This thesis explores the potential of typography as a significant visual element in the narration of a short film. The project specifically considers the visual and paralinguistic nature of typography and its discourse with moving image. A creative consideration of these issues is then synthesized into the short film, the window.

The earlier studies of how gender is visually constructed in lifestyle magazines have mainly been done on photographs. But, photographs are only one part of the entire magazine Therefor3, we saw the importance in examining one of the other big parts, typography. We have been studying if gender can be constructed in lifestyle magazines through the shape and color of typography and the color context. It is important to point out that we have not been studying the written word but only the shape and color of the typography. The study has been conducted through a qualitative content analysis with a comparative process of the selected magazines. The analysis began with a semiotic analysis of selected parts of the magazines. The result was then analyzed with a feminist theoretical approach. The result of the study shows that gender can be constructed through typography in a number of different ways. This depends on what feminist approach it is looked upon. In one way gender is constructed in a traditional perspective where the boundaries of masculinity and femininity is constrained to stereotypes. In another way it is constructed through a modern perspective where the boundaries of gender is no longer fixed.

This study looked at how different formats of online news story can affect the way users read and understand it.The researcher formatted one story taken off the wire into two different ways: simple text story and a story customized for Web presentation. As an example the researcher used the style of MSNBC.com, one of nation's leading providers of original online news content.One hundred and sixty subjects who participated in the study were split into two different groups reflecting their online reading habits: the users who read news in full (or slow readers) and the users who scan and/or skim online information (fast readers). Both groups were exposed to each type of online story presentation.With the help of an online instrument created for the purpose of this study the researcher monitored subjects' reading speeds and recall of different types of story.The data collected in the experiment were analyzed through two-way Analysis of Variance, or ANOVA, with equal sample sizes.Initial analysis of the data revealed no significant difference between the way both types of readers recalled the two stories. Further analysis, however, showed that the type of story presentation had an effect on the speed with which certain categories of subjects read the stories. Subsequent analysis revealed that it was fast readers who took statistically significant less amounts of time to read the story formatted for online presentation. / Department of Journalism

This study researched the question as to whether reading goals and organizational signals interact to affect comprehension. Organizational signals are literary instruments that make the topic structure more salient and increase the recall for the majority of the topics in a text. Readers have specific goals that they wish to accomplish during reading. Participants read one of two texts, which contained one of three levels of signals: no signals, half signals, and full signals. The participants were assigned a specific goal from one of two main categories of goals: reading for school or reading for pleasure. Significant Text and Goal differences were found, but there was no effect of headings. Participants with the school goal recalled more than did the participants with the pleasure goal. It appears that reading goals do have an effect on the processing characteristics that people use while reading, which affects the amount recalled. / Department of Psychological Science

Newspapers have increased their emphasis on page design and presentation due to modern design styles, competition, and changes in technology. While newspaper designers have taken on increasingly important roles in newsrooms, professional and academic literature points to a divide between "word" journalists and "visual" journalists. This researcher examined current attitudes toward this divide using Q methodology.Forty-one journalists at four Midwestern newspapers comprised the sample. The journalists sorted 50 Q statements concerning attitudes about the responsibilities of designers and the value of design to the newspaper and its readers.Upon analysis of results, respondents were divided into three factor groups: the Collaborators, the Progressives, and the Traditionalists. Respondents in all three factors agreed that design elements serve readers and cooperation between designers and other journalists benefits readers. Collaborators had the most advanced point of view on the ability of designers and other journalists to effectively work together. Progressives were highly correlated with Collaborators, but placed a heavier emphasis on the product rather than the process, expressing positive attitudes toward the ability of design elements to aid readers and add to the quality of the newspaper. Traditionalists represented a less-advanced point of view, expressing negative feelings toward collaboration and the ability of designers to contribute as journalists. Newspaper policies and philosophies appeared to dictate attitudes toward the role of design, rather than demographic characteristics or job responsibilities. / Department of Journalism

This thesis was a descriptive study of the process of designing a newspaper front page by three journalists. The newspaper industry has placed increased importance on journalistic design. However, little research had been completed on the mental processes of designers.This study was concerned with the processes that occur as professional journalists designed a front page of a newspaper as determined by protocol analysis. Three Indiana newspapers,The Evansville Courier, The South Bend Tribune and The Times from Munster, Ind., were selected. The individual who designed the front page on a regular basis participated in the protocol sessions.The conclusions showed that these designers spent the majority of the design process planning and analyzing materials to be used. The majority of all decisions made by the designers were based on past design knowledge. The journalists applied their skills in a rapid and confident way as they designed separate portions of the page until all elements were used and the page was complete. / Department of Journalism

The locus of this project is in the field of type face design, with the origins of the project based on an appreciation of the Letraset brand1 dry transfer system (instant lettering and other elements included in the system) and the way they were used and/or mis-used. The project investigates the autographic ‘craft’ nature of the use of Letraset, the fact that if used carelessly it could create accidental applications and that these accidental applications could lead to serendipitous effects. The project explains how reflection on these effects led in turn to some users of Letraset devising their own unconventional techniques for its use and it proposes that it is possible to replicate some of these effects and to use them as the inspiration for new type face concepts. It further proposes that it is possible to use Letraset elements (rules, dots and squares for example) in ways other than originally intended as the raw material of the basic structure of new type face designs. The methodology used in the project combines narrative inquiry, self inquiry and the generation of ideas through creative reflection and the use of ‘tacit knowledge’.

This thesis explores the potential of typography as a significant visual element in the narration of a short film. The project specifically considers the visual and paralinguistic nature of typography and its discourse with moving image. A creative consideration of these issues is then synthesized into the short film, the window.

This project involves the retelling of a historic New Zealand story using a system of multiple narrations. The research is presented in three parts:1. The practical component, Last Man Hanging: a book of pictures.2. A contextualising exegesis.3. 31 months (a documentation of my visual journey). The major component of this research is the creative text, Last Man Hanging. This is a book of pictures and type that retells the story of the trial and death of Walter James Bolton; the last man hanged in New Zealand. Its narrative discourse involves the orchestration of relationships through a compendium of characters, architecture, artifacts, environments and typography. The book integrates narrative voices that may be grouped into two often-conflicting positions; the story as it appeared in newspapers at the time, and the writer's personal consideration of an alternative series of events and emphases. Though an argument of tellings the book suggests a different verdict to that established by the courts in 1956.Finally, the exegesis contextualises both works. It considers specific theoretical issues pertaining to Last Man Hanging's narrative voice and imagery.

Thesis (M.S.)--West Virginia University, 2008. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains iii, 50 p. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 45-48).