How text can change the meaning and emotion of an image

An image can speak a thousand words yet when you add text it can speak two. Adding text to an image can completely change the meaning and intent and image is supposed to portray. The text that is added can recreate a whole new story for the image and effects how people percieve the image. What you choose to add to the image can completely change the effect an image can have on its audience and is a powerfull tool in sending a message or provocing emotion. Below I will show an example of the importance of text to project a message on an image and make people stop and think. 

The image above just looks like an ordinary portrait, it could have been taken from a hair advertisement, fashion shoot or even a family photo. From looking at this photo you don’t really get much clue into the story behind the image yet there are many possibilities that you think the intent of the image could be. Now take the same image and add some text and see how the image completely changes meaning.

By adding a few simple sentences to this image it takes an image that could have been used for many different things and adds a serious tone to the picture. It changes a beautiful girl in a portrait to quite a sad and emotional image. Without the text the image projects no emotion yet with the text it becomes a heart wrenching piece that draws on the audience for sympathy and help. The above example shows the importance of text when trying to send a message and how by adding text can completely change to emotion portrayed by an image.

This image was taken from a film poster advertising the film ‘Dark Country’. http://www.filmschoolrejects.com/news/exclusive-new-art-for-thomas-janes-dark-country-neilm.php

Creative Workspaces

As a designer in a creative industry many people find their workspace is where they collect different materials that inspire them in the designing process, whether it be from books, drawings, flyers, images etc. Artists surround themselves with materials that make it easier to complete the design process. Its from this process that makes each designers workspace an individual environment and unique to each person. Some designers work in messy environments while others have to be in clean and tidy spaces. From the spaces they work in you can get an incite into a designers thought process and understand better their techniques and how their completed works were achieved and developed. Below I have uploaded a few examples of workspaces that I find interesting and can relate to in my own work. 

Unlike some of the spaces above my creative environment changes depending on the project I’m working on at the time. I work best if I’m surrounded by everything I need around me all at an arms length away but also sometimes need to remove myself from that environment and work in a tidy and clutter free workspace. Although I must say I do need background noise to be able to get stuck in, there’s nothing worse than working in a silent room with nothing to listen too! 

Developing Ideational Fluency

Developing ideational fluency can come in useful as an artist as it helps you to expand your mindset from producing one idea into several different ideas. Commonly achieved through brainstorming you can take one main subject and write down everything and anything that comes into your mind when thinking about it. This then develops into mind mapping, where you take the ideas you thought of during the brainstorm and organize them so they work together with each other creating new and initiative ideas that you might of never thought of or thought possible before completing the process.

While brainstorms usually consist of noting down words, mind maps involve more visual examples of working. Images and illustrations help to show the developing thought processes and show in wider detail the creative thought processes occurring around one idea and how the artist has come across them.

Below is an example of the difference between a brainstorm and a mind map. By looking at both ways of extracting ideas and noting them down to be developed both processes work well together as one expands the thought process while the other a more creative process. This results in greater and more creative ideas that are unique to the individual artists. 

Brainstorm.

Mind map.

Design Process

As a designer it is important to have your own individual design process and be able to understand how you work best. By being aware of this it allows you to progress through your work easier and better understand fully the process and journey you go through to come up with a completed piece of work. Below is a brief explanation of how I work my way through any new project and develop my ideas in a way that best suits my abilities.

1. Brief – Read through brief and make sure I fully understand what it is asking for.

2. Initial ideas – Note down any initial ideas I may have around the subject and any thoughts I may have. Example below.

3. Research – Start researching into images/ artists/ films/ techniques etc. That can help me develop on any ideas and inspire my project. Example below.

4. Develop ideas – Select one or two ideas that I think have potential and develop on them more, thinking about how I would go about shooting it/ concept behind it etc.

5. Research – Research further into a more specific area/ different practitioners/ techniques that relate to my ideas and that I can draw inspiration and develop on. Example below.

6. Final idea – Find one idea that I’m happy with and that most excites me and perfect it. Example below.

7. Plan – Plan how I intend to go about shooting this idea, the equipment I will need, location of the shoot, models, makeup etc. Example below.

8. Develop/ construct – Once shot my images develop and construct them into my final piece until I am happy with the work, if I feel the need to reshoot I will then repeat a few of the steps listed above. 

An artists delivery

In April 2009 a group of artists took to the streets for a ‘New York street advertising takeover’. Finding it difficult to locate spaces free from advertising Jordan Seiler of Public Ad Campaign organized the event in which over 80 artists participated in transforming 126 billboards in exchange for the individual artists work.

“Public Ad Campaign acts on the assumption that public space and the public's interaction with that space is a vital component of a city's health. By visually altering and physically interacting with the public environment, residents become psychologically invested in their community.

Outdoor advertising is the primary obstacle to open public communications. By monetizing public space, outdoor advertising has monopolised the surfaces that shape our shared environment. Private property laws protect the communications made by outdoor advertising while systematically preventing public usage of that space. “

The quote above is taken from the Public Ad Campaign’s blog explain the point that by law the advertisements were protected but working behind the ethics that they were placed on illegal billboards made it systematically okay to white wash over the advertisements in replacement for artists work. 

Seiler has found a loophole in the law and created a platform to advertise his and other creative work while at the same time staying true to their cause. The artists involved have been able to use the platforms to great effect as people would stop and take notice of a piece of art work on a wall more than thousands of the same posters plastered on there. It is also a issue that could cause debates into the ethics behind the project while transforming a usually bleak and boring space into essentially a piece of art.

Below are a few examples of the completed billboards with the artists work. 

Images and research taken from www.publicadcampaign.com/index.php, www.coolhunting.com/culture/new-york-street.php