Accompanying workbook not available in digital format / Both empirical and anecdotal evidence indicates that visual communication1 design practices implemented by designers with full colour vision often disadvantage, and sometimes endanger, colour-blind people. The thesis The Machine postulates that colour-blind people – comprising approximately 8% of males and 0.5% of females (Lewis et al., 1990) – are marginalized by such practices. It argues that this group could benefit from a design strategy that enhances the communicative potential and visibility of colour. The proposed strategy involves embedding pattern into potentially confusing colours such as red and green. The embedded pattern would function for colour-blind people as an additional clue to the identity of these colours. The thesis contends that while colour alone can be confusing for colour-blind people, patterned colour could offer a solution with a wide range of possible applications. The research aims of The Machine include: developing a system of patterned colour; creating a wordless picture book that demonstrates the effectiveness of the system; constructing a narrative around the condition of red-green colourblindness; and employing visual rhetoric2 to increase awareness of and sensitivity to colour-blindness among those with full colour vision. The design of the thesis is supported by research in a number of interrelated areas. These include the history of pattern post-1850, particularly in Western culture; precedents for patterned colour; and visual rhetoric in story-telling. The research also incorporates an analysis of the defining characteristics of ten late twentieth-century and early twenty-first-century wordless picture books. The thesis is further supported by applied research into patterned colour and visual rhetoric. The Machine aims to benefit colour-blind people, a significant minority group whose visual needs are currently inadequately met. In addition, it proposes broadening the cultural role and significance of pattern. Moreover, by incorporating informative elements usually associated with pedagogic material, it aspires to extend the boundaries of the fantasy picture book genre. 1 Visual communication (n): communication that relies on vision (Wordnet, 2006). 2 Visual rhetoric: the use of visual techniques, such as the creation of visually ‘engaging’ characters, as a means of persuading a target audience

<p>Syftet med arbetet är att identifiera och lyfta fram ett antal riktlinjer för den visuella designen av animerad bild som används i utbildningssammanhang. Vi ämnar också att identifiera vilka stilelement inom animerad undervisningsfilm som står sig över tid och olika medium. Att belysa de nya kvaliteter och möjligheter som framkommer i och med det digitala mediet. Vi kommer också att titta på hur målgrupp och mottagarkontext påverkar formens uttryck och innehåll.</p><p>Vi har med en gemensam analysmodell gjort en kvalitativ analys av tre tidstypiska animerade undervisningsfilmer, <em>Camouflage</em> (1943),<em> Den Vidunderliga Världshistorien</em> (1993) och <em>Gutten og Torsken</em> (2007) som alla använder sig av humor som en förstärkning av lärandet.</p><p>Genom analysen har vi kunnat identifiera stilelement så som användandet av stereotyper och metaforer, konstaterat hur innehåll och uttryck till stor del påverkats av målgrupp och mottagarkontext men även av gällande distribution och tekniska möjligheter.</p> / <p>The purpose of this work is to identify and highlight a couple of guidelines for the visual design of an animated film to be used in an educational context. We also seek to identify style elements in animated educational film that persist through time and different medium. Also to highlight new qualities and opportunities that come with the digital medium. Finally we will also look at how the audience and reception context effects and shape the expression and content of an educational movie.</p><p>With a fixed analytical model we have made a comparative qualitative analysis of three period-characteristic animated educational films, <em>Camouflage</em> (1943), <em>Den Vidunderliga Världshistorien</em> (1993) and <em>Gutten og Torsken</em> (2007) which all use humor to enhance the learning.</p><p>Through this analysis we have been able to identify style elements such as the use of stereotypes and metaphors, noted how the content and expression is largely influenced by the audience and receiver context but also of the distribution and technical capabilities.</p>

AbstractPresentation of the problem: The goal with this graduation project is to produce a new visual concept for the student newspaper Campus, this will be expressed in the form of page templates. The page templates will have a visual concept that appears through graphical elements. The client's wishes were that the student newspaper should be audience appropriate, attractive, inviting, reliable, modern and functional to work with.Theory: In order to implement the wishes and in a good way produce a consistent visual concept, we took a starting point in theory of graphic design. This theory has taken many of its principles from aesthetic theory, and therefore have we also used aesthetics to provide a deeper theoretical aspect. The principles we used in graphic design is; how to create a unity in the layout by using basic elements such as text, images, and white space. We have also looked at alignment-, form-, color-, contrast-, typography- and placement principles. The principles we have applied from aesthetics are color repetition, color contrasts, balance, visual harmony and depth.Method: The empirical studies consisted of a qualitative content analysis of student newspapers, followed by a focus-group study with respondents from the Campus newspaper target group. The purpose of the two studies was to, via a content analysis, get a general picture of the design language that is used on the market today. This, combined with theory, helped us to create a visual expression that stands outside the general form. It was done in four different dummies, these dummies were discussed by the focus-group.Results: Our first empirical study showed how student newspapers are designed today. With support of theory, the functioning principles was sorted out and used in the four dummies. During the focus-group analysis, opinions about the dummies were presented. We could therefore see what the respondents wanted in the page templates. Together with the client's wishes and analysis from the empirical studies, a new concept developed. It will be perceived as clean and structured together with attitude. / Campus

Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att klarlägga hur de politiska partierna formulerar sitt budskap i tv-reklam inför valet till Sveriges riksdag 2010. Teoretiska perspektiv: I denna studie används teori om politisk kommunikation, reklam och marknadsföring. Metod: Tre olika metoder användes vid denna studie. Två typer av visuell analys: bildanalys och filmanalys samt en retorisk analys. Empiriskt material: Avsändarna av filmerna som granskats i denna studie är Moderaterna, Kristdemokraterna, Socialdemokraterna och Miljöpartiet. Resultat: De svenska politiska reklamfilmerna använder sig inte av personkampanjer, dvs. de egna politikerna framträder inte alls i filmerna annat än som speakerröster. Resultaten visar också att filmerna skiljer sig åt gällande musikval där Moderaterna och Kristdemokraterna använder sig av mer välkända låtar än de övriga partierna. Socialdemokraterna och Kristdemokraternas budskap formulerar sig mer negativt än Moderaterna och Miljöpartiet. Samtliga partier delar fokus på människan och en jämvikt mellan kvinnor och män, däremot är representationen av etniska och sexuella minoriteter dålig. / Problem: 2010 was the first year when the political parties could advertise in Swedish television during an campaign before the election to the Swedish parliament. Therefore, it’s interesting to study how the political ads in television were formulated and which messages they sent to the viewers. Question at issues: The main study was concentrated on how the political parties formulated their messages. Other research questions were about differences and similarities between the advertisements and if there were differences in presentation and messages between the Alliance and the red-green coalition. Aim: The aim of this study is to illuminate how the political parties formulated their messages in TV-ads. Methodology: Three different methods were used. Two types of visual analysis, movie analysis and image analysis were combined to analyze the visual parts of the ads. The third method was a rhetoric approach to analyze the spoken/written word in the ads. Theoretical Perspective: This study is based on theories concerning political communication in Sweden and USA, advertising and marketing. Empirical foundation: In this study, four political TV-ads from four different parties in the Swedish election 2010 were analyzed; The Moderate party, Christian Democrats, Social Democrats and the Green party. Results: The Swedish political TV-ads do not – contrary to political ads in many other countries – use personal campaigns and theirs political leaders as the main messengers. The ads were similar to each other according to the use of characters and environment in the scenes. The use of music and the use of positive/negative feelings were the things that were the most differentiated between the political ads. The Moderate Party and the Green party were more positive in their messages than the Christian Democrats and Social Democrats were.

L’industrie publicitaire est un travail quotidien de collaboration entre deux « hémisphères » distincts : l’un de nature commercial et l’autre de nature créatif. Des individus qui favorisent des aspects logiques et rationnels se doivent de collaborer avec des individus qui favorisent des aspects intuitifs et artistiques, ce qui suscite des tensions. Cette mise en relation s’opère au travers d’un processus, que nous nommerons processus de design visuel communicationnel car il permet de relier la communication au design, approche que nous adoptons dans ce mémoire. L’industrie publicitaire s’est dotée d’outils permettant de faciliter le processus de design visuel communicationnel, dont le brief créatif. Notre recherche propose d’observer la manière dont les « commerciaux » et les « créatifs » perçoivent leur travail quotidien en agence et comment le brief créatif est réquisitionné. Nous adoptons une posture interprétative pour tenir compte de la complexité du phénomène et nous mobilisons une série d’entrevues pour répondre à nos questions de recherche. Nos questions de recherche sont les suivantes : de quelle manière les « commerciaux » et les « créatifs » négocient-ils les tensions lors du processus de design visuel communicationnel? Quels rôles le brief créatif occupe-t-il au sein de ce processus? Les résultats nous renseignent sur les transformations et les innovations qui émergent des tensions entre les « commerciaux » et les « créatifs » et sur l’importance que revêtent les caractéristiques communicationnelles du brief créatif dans le cadre du processus de design visuel communicationnel. / The advertising industry involves a daily collaboration between two ways of thinking or two hemispheres: one of commercial nature and the other of creative nature. Rational and logical individuals must collaborate with intuitive and artistic individuals, and from this collaboration emerge various tensions. In the advertising industry, this relationship operates throughout a process of visual communication design. We chose to use the term visual communication design process because it illustrates our approach in this research, an approach that joins communication and design. The advertising industry has developed tools to facilitate the visual communication process: among them the creative brief. Our research proposes to observe how “commercials” and “creatives” in the industry perceive their day-to-day work and their use of the creative brief through a series of interviews. Our questions are: in which ways do the “commercials” and “creatives” negotiate the tensions that emerges from the visual communication design process? What are the roles of the creative brief throughout this process? Our findings illustrate the transformations and innovations that emerge from the tensions between “commercials” and “creatives” and highlight the importance of the communicational characteristics of the creative brief as part of the visual communication design process.

This study reports on recurring difficulties experienced by undergraduate students with respect to understanding and interpretation of certain symbolism, nomenclature, terminology, shorthand notation, models and other visual representations employed in the field of Molecular Biology to communicate information. Based on teaching experience and guidelines set out by a four-level methodological framework, data on various topic-related difficulties was obtained by inductive analyses of students’ written responses to specifically designed, free-response and focused probes. In addition, interviews, think-aloud exercises and student-generated diagrams were also used to collect information. Both unanticipated and recurring difficulties were compared with scientifically correct propositional knowledge, categorized and subsequently classified. Students were adept at providing the meaning of the symbol “Δ” in various scientific contexts; however, some failed to recognize its use to depict the deletion of a leucine biosynthesis gene in the form, Δ leu. “Hazard to leucine”, “change to leucine” and “abbreviation for isoleucine” were some of the erroneous interpretations of this polysemic symbol. Investigations on these definitions suggest a constructivist approach to knowledge construction and the inappropriate transfer of knowledge from prior mental schemata. The symbol, “::”, was poorly differentiated by students in its use to indicate gene integration or transposition and in tandem gene fusion. Idiosyncratic perceptions emerged suggesting that it is, for example, a proteinaceous component linking genes in a chromosome or the centromere itself associated with the mitotic spindle or “electrons” between genes in the same way that it is symbolically shown in Lewis dot diagrams which illustrate covalent bonding between atoms. In an oligonucleotide shorthand notation, some students used valency to differentiate the phosphite trivalent form of the phosphorus atom from the pentavalent phosphodiester group, yet the concept of valency was poorly understood. By virtue of the visual form of a shorthand notation of the 3,5 phosphodiester link in DNA, the valency was incorrectly read. VSEPR theory and the Octet Rule were misunderstood or forgotten when trying to explain the valency of the phosphorus atom in synthetic oligonucleotide intermediates. Plasmid functional domains were generally well-understood although restriction mapping appeared to be a cognitively demanding task. Rote learning and substitution of definitions were evident in the explanation of promoter and operator functions. The concept of gene expression posed difficulties to many students who believed that genes contain the entity they encode. Transcription and translation of in tandem gene fusions were poorly explained by some students as was the effect of plasmid conformation on transformation and gene expression. With regard to the selection of transformants or the hybridoma, some students could not engage in reasoning or lateral thinking as protoconcepts and domain-specific information were poorly understood. A failure to integrate and reason with factual information on phenotypic traits, media components and biochemical pathways were evident in written and oral presentations. DNA-strand nomenclature and associated function were problematic to some students as they failed to differentiate coding strand from template strand and were prone to interchange the labelling of these. A substitution of labels with those characterizing DNA replication intermediates demonstrated erroneous information transfer. DNA replication models posed difficulties integrating molecular mechanisms and detail with line drawings, coupled with inaccurate illustrations of sequential replication features. Finally, a remediation model is presented, demonstrating a shift in assessment score dispersion from a range of 0 - 4.5 to 4 - 9 when learners are guided metacognitively to work with domain-specific or critical knowledge from an information bank. The present work shows that varied forms of symbolism can present students with complex learning difficulties as the underlying information depicted by these is understood in a superficial way. It is imperative that future studies be focused on the standardization of symbol use, perhaps governed by convention that determines the manner in which threshold information is disseminated on symbol use, coupled by innovative teaching strategies which facilitate an improved understanding of the use of symbolic representations in Molecular Biology. As Molecular Biology advances, it is likely that experts will continue to use new and diverse forms of symbolic representations to explain their findings. The explanation of futuristic Science is likely to develop a symbolic language that will impose great teaching challenges and unimaginable learning difficulties to new generation teachers and learners, respectively. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2007.

This research concerns the information design and visual design of graphical user interfaces (GUI) in the condition monitoring and condition-based maintenance (CBM) of production equipment. It also concerns various communicative aspects of a GUI, which is used to monitor the condition of assets. It applies to one Swedish vendor and its intentions to design information. In addition, it applies to the interaction between the GUI and its individual visual elements, as well as the communication between the GUI and the users (in four Swedish paper mills). The research is performed as a single case study. Interviews and observations have been the main methods for data collection. Empirical data is analyzed with methods inferred to semiotics, rhetoric and narratology. Theories in information science and regarding remediation are used to interpret the user interface design. The key conclusion is that there are no less than five different forms of information, all important when determining the conditions of assets. These information forms include the words, images and shapes in the GUI, the machine components and peripherals equipment, the information that takes form when personnel communicate machine conditions, the personnel’s subjective associations, and the information forms that relate to the personnel's actions and interactions. Preventive technicians interpret the GUI-information individually and collectively in relation to these information forms, which influence their interpretation and understanding of the GUI information. Social media in the GUI makes it possible to represent essential information that takes form when employees communicate a machine’s condition. Photographs may represent information forms as a machine’s components, peripherals, and local environment change over time. Moreover, preventative technicians may use diagrams and photographs in the GUI to change attitudes among the personnel at the mills and convince them, for example, of a machine’s condition or the effectiveness of CBM as maintenance policy.

Artists in interaction: creation processes in official collaborative projects is a doctoral thesis that explores the creation processes of artists, when the project owner defines the purpose, theme and framework. The area is explored from the artists' perspective and the overall research question deals with the opportunities and obstacles that artists face when working in collaborative projects. To be able to explore the artists' working processes, in which sketches and models were tools, concepts from the visual research field were combined with knowledge theories that derive from the area of practice-based research. The knowledge theories draw on an updated understanding of ancient philosophy developed by, among others, the philosopher Martha Nussbaum. Rudolf Arnheim’s concepts of visual thinking are also vital for the interpretation of the visuals. The results indicate that skills in different sketching techniques build trust and enable communication. However, the artists experienced that it was more difficult to integrate the more indefinable parts of their knowledge, which relates to improvisation and intuition, even though this was highlighted as the most vital force in their working processes. The consequence is that the artists have not always followed their artistic intentions, which in some cases also meant compromising the quality of the works of art  they produced. The collaboration between the artists and the project-owner representatives could be more enriching for both parties if the artists' implicit knowledge is respected as a resource and given some room, although this may involve certain risks. The study also provides results regarding the interpretation of models and sketches, and discusses in what way different sketches can support (or hinder) communication in different stages of a design process, i.e. what aspects are important to consider when sketches are used to support communication. Particularly interesting is that the findings demonstrate that spoken and written language has a significant impact on how sketches are interpreted; the use of verbal language is therefore an important factor in presentations built on visuals. / Avhandlingen Konstnärskap i samspel: om skapande arbetsprocesser i myndighetsledda samverkansprojekt undersöker konstnärers arbetsprocesser i projekt där uppdragsgivaren formulerat tema, syfte och ramar för gestaltningsarbetet. Genom tre fallstudier har konstnärers arbetsprocesser i samverkansprojekt, med inriktning på utställning och gestaltning i musei- och kulturmiljö undersökts. Den övergripande frågeställningen behandlar vilka möjligheter och begränsningar konstnärer upplever i sin praktik i myndighetsledda samverkansprojekt. Materialet till studien har samlats in via intervjuer, observationer, artefakter och dokument. Till artefakter räknas skisser, modeller och verk. För att undersöka konstnärernas arbetsprocesser, där olika typer av skisser är ett verktyg, har teorier från det visuella fältet kombinerats med teorier om praktisk kunskap. Från det visuella fältet är Rudolf Arnheims teorier om visuellt tänkande centrala och vad gäller kunskapsteorier är utgångspunkten en samtida tolkning av Aristoteles teori om olika kunskapsformer som utvecklats av bland andra filosofen Martha Nussbaum. På en övergripande nivå visar studien att skicklighet i hantering av olika skisstekniker möjliggör kommunikation och skapar förtroende, medan mer svårbeskrivbara delar av konstnärers kunnande med improvisation och intuition som vitala krafter är svårare att integrera i samverkansprojekten. Följden av detta är att konstnärerna inte alltid valt att genomdriva sina intentioner i projekten till fullo, vilket i ett par fall också inneburit avkall på gestaltningens kvalitet. Samverkan mellan offentliga uppdragsgivare och representanter från den kreativa sektorn (som konstnärerna i projekten representerar), skulle kunna bli mer berikande för båda parter om konstnärers implicita kunnande ses som en resurs och om uppdragsgivaren ger utrymme för improvisation, även om detta innebär visst risktagande. Studien förmedlar också ny empiribaserad kunskap beträffande olika skiss- och presentationsformers funktion i kommunikationsakten mellan konstnär (skissproducent) och uppdragsgivare (beställare). Detta kan komma till nytta i flera sammanhang där skissmaterial används vid presentationer av idéer, i kommunikationen med en beställare eller som ett verktyg i grupprocesser. Intressant nog demonstrerar resultaten också att talat och skrivet språk har stor inverkan på hur skisser tolkas. Därför är detta en viktig aspekt att beakta i presentationer som inkluderar visuella material, både för skissproducent och beställare.

Accompanying workbook not available in digital format / Both empirical and anecdotal evidence indicates that visual communication1 design practices implemented by designers with full colour vision often disadvantage, and sometimes endanger, colour-blind people. The thesis The Machine postulates that colour-blind people – comprising approximately 8% of males and 0.5% of females (Lewis et al., 1990) – are marginalized by such practices. It argues that this group could benefit from a design strategy that enhances the communicative potential and visibility of colour. The proposed strategy involves embedding pattern into potentially confusing colours such as red and green. The embedded pattern would function for colour-blind people as an additional clue to the identity of these colours. The thesis contends that while colour alone can be confusing for colour-blind people, patterned colour could offer a solution with a wide range of possible applications. The research aims of The Machine include: developing a system of patterned colour; creating a wordless picture book that demonstrates the effectiveness of the system; constructing a narrative around the condition of red-green colourblindness; and employing visual rhetoric2 to increase awareness of and sensitivity to colour-blindness among those with full colour vision. The design of the thesis is supported by research in a number of interrelated areas. These include the history of pattern post-1850, particularly in Western culture; precedents for patterned colour; and visual rhetoric in story-telling. The research also incorporates an analysis of the defining characteristics of ten late twentieth-century and early twenty-first-century wordless picture books. The thesis is further supported by applied research into patterned colour and visual rhetoric. The Machine aims to benefit colour-blind people, a significant minority group whose visual needs are currently inadequately met. In addition, it proposes broadening the cultural role and significance of pattern. Moreover, by incorporating informative elements usually associated with pedagogic material, it aspires to extend the boundaries of the fantasy picture book genre. 1 Visual communication (n): communication that relies on vision (Wordnet, 2006). 2 Visual rhetoric: the use of visual techniques, such as the creation of visually ‘engaging’ characters, as a means of persuading a target audience

The objective of this research is to demonstrate that co-creative sketching as a part of the participatory process has the potential to support the developmental nature of a visual communication tool used to promote the exchange of experience. The tool is intended to create an informative hub that influences a travellers experience of a location. Ethnographic research as reflective sketching was conducted in the Tongariro National Park. Within this setting reflective sketching located the kitchen and common area of traveller specific accommodation as an ideal collaborative environment to conduct participatory design research. In this collaborative environment snowboarders and skiers who are aged between 20-30 years are identified as the target audience. This specific audience participated in co-creative sessions throughout the design process, resulting in the participatory design of the tool. The design aim of the visual communication tool was to promote the exchange of experience between snowboarders and skiers about a specific location. This was achieved by adapting generative tools made up of a visual language which supported the word of mouth exchange and individual expression. The exchange of experiences was facilitated by co-creative sketching with the visual language during a state of play. Playful co-creative sketching supported word of mouth dialogue between the snowboarders and skiers in a way that co-created an informative visual representation of the dialogue or contextmap. The resulting contextmap represented an image for experience which was beyond an individuals conception and made individuals tacit-knowledge accessible to audiences within and outside the moment of exchange, creating an informative hub which influenced the specific audiences view of experience for a location. An action research methodology is used during the course of this research, informed by the approaches of co-creation, context-mapping and generative tools. These approaches constructed a theoretical framework for the participatory development and co-creative sketching of the communication tool. This supportive thesis discusses the context, the theoretical concepts and provides an in depth account on the research through design process; the week-by-week participatory process undertaken to develop the visual communication tool.