Although we live in a society abundant with images, the subject of illustrations in scientific communication seems to have become a blind spot. The study of scientific communication is an interdisciplinary field, where written and visual language is studied separately from one another. The aim of this master thesis is to break with tradition and look at the use of illustrations, their form and frequency, in a random selection of Swedish contemporary doctoral theses to make an attempt to explain why some scholars do not use illustrations as much as others. The found graphics are discussed in their faculty and departmental context, and the aspects of page design, electronic availability, and publishing tradition are also included in this discussion. By looking at some activities surrounding the author of a doctoral thesis, such as writers’s manuals, computer graphic tools, and the role of librarians, proof was found to support a genre and activity theory, as described by Charles Bazerman. This study presents an overview of illustrations occurring in dissertations in a way that was not done before, opening up for further studies about the form and function of scientific illustrations as important carriers of information. / Fastän vi lever i ett samhälle som är översvämmat av bilder verkar vetenskapliga illustrationer vara ett ämne som förblivit ett slags blind punkt. Studierna av vetenskaplig kommunikation är ett interdisciplinärt område där det skrivna och visuella språket behandlas var för sig. Målet med denna D-uppsats är att bryta detta mönster och att undersöka bruket av illustrationer i en tillfälligt utvald samling svenska moderna avhandlingar för att se om det går att förklara varför en del forskare använder färre bilder än andra. De funna illustrationerna diskuteras i deras fakultets- och institutionssammanhang, och aspekterna sidutseende, elektronisk tillgång och utgivningssätt lyfts fram. Genom att titta på en del aktiviteter som omger författaren till en dissertation, som t.ex. skrivhandledningar, verktyg för datorgrafik och bibliotekariens roll, kunde bevis hittas för den genre- och aktivitetsteori som beskrivits av Charles Bazerman. Studien presenterar en översikt av förekommande illustrationer i doktorsavhandlingar som inte gjorts förut och öppnar vägen för nya studier om vetenskapliga bilders utseende och funktion som viktiga informationsbärare.

This thesis is about covers of books and DVD movies. I have tried to find out if the visual communication of the covers differs between the book and movie with the same story. Do they appeal to different target groups? I have also been trying to find out what designers can do to increase the visibility of covers among others. Are there certain rules to follow for making a cover visible? To reach a conclusion I have been studying components in advertising pictures, since covers work as a kind of advertiser for the product. I have also been studying visual communication and how designers use advertising pictures to communicate with the observer. Semiotics, advertising and comparisons between the covers have been my method for analyze. I have come to the colclusion that covers of books and DVD movies do communicate in different ways and partly to different target groups. There are certain rules to follow if you want to increase the visibility of a picture among others. The results indicate that the book covers have an older target group than the DVD covers.

The purpose of the case study is to research whether the brand Hollister can establish themselves to their target audience working with communication. To achieve the goal with the study, the following theories has been applied: brand building, visual communication, two-way symmetrical communication and communication channels. The study was conducted by a quantitative online questionnaire survey. The online survey was aimed at teenagers aged 15-18 years old living in Täby or Umeå where one question was "What difference can be discerned between Täby, where there is a shop, and Umeå where there is no shop". The material was collected during a period of eight days between december 11th to december 19th 2013. The online survey was answered by 90 units which means a response rate of 90 percent. The results of the study showed that it differed somewhat between the cities and above all it showed that the units from Täby had more knowledge about the brand's visual identity, and visited the store to a larger extent. The analysis also showed that branding is an important part to reach out and influence Hollister’s target audience where the work of visual communication is vital. / Syftet med studien är att undersöka om varumärket Hollister kan etablera sig hos sin målgrupp med hjälp av kommunikation. För att uppnå syftet har följande teorier tillämpats: varumärkesbyggande, visuell kommunikation, tvåvägs-symmetrisk kommunikation samt kommunikationskanaler. Studien har genomförts genom en kvantitativ enkätundersökning på webben. Webbenkäten riktade sig till tonåringar i åldern 15-18 år som bor i Täby eller Umeå då bland annat en frågeställning har varit ”Vilken skillnad går att utläsa mellan Täby, där det finns en butik, respektive Umeå där det inte finns någon butik”. Materialet samlades in under en period på åtta dagar mellan 11-19 december 2013. Webbenkäten svarades av 90 enheter vilket innebär en svarsfrekvens på 90 procent. Resultatet av studien visade att det skiljde en del mellan städerna framförallt går det att utläsa att enheterna från Täby hade mer kännedom kring varumärkets visuella identitet samt besökt butiken i större utsträckning. Analysen visade även att varumärkesbyggande är en viktig del för att nå ut och påverka sin målgrupp och bland annat att arbetet med den visuella kommunikationen är betydelsefull.

Apartheid housing policies of the pre-1994 South African government, and the low-cost highdensity housing programmes of the post-1994 government, has given rise to numerous urban environmental problems, some of which could be addressed in a cost-effective and sustainable manner through urban greening, while simultaneously promoting biodiversity. Public participation in the planning of urban greening has been identified as being of vital importance, without which urban greening projects run a high, and expensive, risk of failure. Previous studies indicate that the greening priorities of residents in low-cost high-density housing settlements may differ considerably from those of managers and experts tasked with the protection and extension of the natural environment resource base. A system of participatory decision support is therefore required to reconcile the greening requirements of the community, and the ecological benefits of biodiversity. If language, literacy, map literacy and numeracy difficulties are to be avoided, and a sense of place or belonging is to be invoked, such a participatory decision support system should, ideally, be visually based, and capable of generating realistic eye-level depictions of the urban landscape. New computer-based landscape visualisation applications, which can directly utilise GIS, CAD and DEM data to produce detailed photo-realistic viewsheds, were deemed better suited to the task of visualising urban greening than existing GIS based mapping systems, CAD and traditional landscape visualisation methods. This dissertation examines the process of constructing a 3D computer model of the Mount Royal low-cost high-density housing settlement, situated in the eThekwini Municipality, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Visualisations including terrain, natural features, indigenous vegetation, houses and roads were produced and submitted, with a questionnaire, to experts from different disciplines, Mount Royal residents and neighbors. Results from the expert survey indicate moderate support for visualisation in professional decision-making. However, both experts and residents expressed strong support for the accuracy and credibility ofthe visualisations, as well as for their potential in a participatory decision support system. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2005.

In order to explain some of the paradoxes and mysteries of the artist's cross cultural experience in Kiribati, he constructed an Artist's Book depicting through visuality, anecdote and reflection, his research process, engaging with current visual perceptions through negotiation with the past. In Kiribati previous encounters with Europeans and Islanders was dominated by English and I Kiribati with significant contributions by French missionaries. Each viewed the other through cultural filters of identity, which were informed by concepts of myth-historical, often heroic pasts, modified by contemporary purpose such as power, trade, evangelism or personal gain. The method of transmission of beliefs about the past differed fundamentally as the Europeans were predominately informed by writing and the I-Kiribati by orality and performance. The non-literary epistemology of the I Kiribati contributed to a cosmology of non-iconic symbols that defined belief systems and social structures. These symbols connected place and space with time, self and group identities. The research found that the all surrounding visual symbol system of sacred meeting house (maneaba), dwelling (bata) and canoe (waa and baurua)) could be partly understood as an ongoing struggle since Deep Time, between the forces of the Ocea n represented by Bakoa, The Shark, and that of the triumph of the coming onto the Land and its people (aba) represented by Tabakea, The Turtle. The performative outcome of this triumph and the spirit of identity (Te Katai ni Kiribati) it engenders is expressed primarily in the ubiquitous I Kiribati Dance. The Artists Book is inspired by the creative classic I Kiribati form of oratory known as Te Kuna, using a structure analogous to the symbolic forms of narrative of Oceanic Voyaging traditionally employed by the I Kiribati. Differences in visual perceptions across cultural interface are understood not only as having the potential for conflict but also as providing positive dynamic force by the interchange of understood differences. The project contributes specifically to the ethnography of English and I Kiribati, semiotic systems and visual epistemologies, indicating directions towards positive outcomes in cross-cultural encounters.

Hållbarhet och miljökommunikation har allt mer kommit att bli en viktig del av marknadsföring, profilering och varumärkesbygge hos företag. Det blir en paradox då företag ska kommunicera hållbarhet och samtidigt vara lönsamma i dagens konsumtionssamhälle. För en tid sedan släppte Uppdrag Granskning ett reportage där det framkom att klädjätten H&amp;M rutinmässigt bränt nyproducerade kläder. Uppsatsen syftar till att undersöka hur budskap i form av text och visuell kommunikation används för att övertyga och påverka i Hennes &amp; Mauritz externa miljökommunikation på företagets webbplats. Frågeställningarna som ställts är följande;  1. Vilka retoriska budskap är framträdande?  2. Hur framträder dessa?  3. Vilka visuella argument tillämpas?  4. Hur profilerar företaget sig som hållbara i miljöfrågor?  För att besvara uppsatsens frågeställning har en kvalitativ kritisk retorikanalys- samt den visuella retorikanalysen tillämpats på mitt material.  Texterna använder motsatsförhållanden. Konsumtion och produktion är två motsatser som måste mötas och förenas i argumentationen. Hur mode och kläder påverkar vårt klimat och vår miljö negativt går att lösa, genom att återvinna och inte kasta kläder på soptippen. Sändaren, alltså H&amp;M har tidigt definierat problemet åt dess mottagare, det vill säga konsumenten och på så sätt utesluts produktionen ur argumentationen. Att återvinna kläder blir alltså det enda (sanna) alternativet för hållbarhetsarbetet. Tesen från ”hållbart mode” etablerar tidigt i texten ”vi vill” som blir ”vi gör” till ”ni kan” sedan ”vi tillsammans” och avslutas med ”du vill” som en sista uppmaning till mottagaren. Rollerna kastas på så vis om. Budskap förstärks genom stilfigurer som är ett medel för att förklara, förtydliga och framhäva. Stilfigurer kan också användas för att få publiken att se på företeelsen ur en bestämd vinkel. Som användningen av metaforen ”ge sina kläder nytt liv” och kontrasteras av begreppet ”soptippen”, som representerar ett större problem förpassat till ett ting, en synekdoke som anspelar på delen av det hela. Definitionstopiker används då ”hållbart” och ”hållbara källor” utgör nyckelord som utelämnas och anspelar på mottagarens tolkning genom begreppets positiva associationer och argument kan legitimeras utan vidare förklaring. Priset utgör kausaliteten mellan marknad och miljö och är talande för de motsättningar som modebranschen möter idag. Budskapet som implicit läggs fram är den att pris och hållbarhet kan förenas. H&amp;M erbjuder det bästa av två världar.  Den visuella analysen av bilden påvisar samt upplyser och fungerar som komplement till texten. Modellerna bär upp jeans, det mest resurskrävande plagget med stolthet som en positiv effekt av att göra rätt, att återvinna och återanvända. Den visuella analysen av filmens framställning bygger på den doxa som är rådande i samhället. Budskapet berör våra känslor om ansvar och frihet.  Företaget profilerar sig genom ethos-argumentation för att legitimera sig som ett medvetet företag gentemot sina intressenter. Genom att kategorisera konkurrenterna och själv ta avstånd från kategoriseringen ”modebranschen” - pekar företaget på sin storlek som fördel. Sändaren vill framstå som förnuftig och kunnig i frågan, välvillig genom att upplysa och bidra, samt dygdig då moral står i fokus och uppfyller därigenom kriteriet för en god talare. Att de flesta argument bygger på sändarens ethos kan vara ett resultat av ett anseende som gått förlorat. / Sustainability and environmental communication have increasingly become an important part of marketing, profiling and brand building at companies. It becomes a paradox when companies communicate sustainability while being profitable in today's consumer society. Recently, ”Uppdrag Granskning” released a documentary showing that the clothing giant H&amp;M routinely burned newly manufactured clothes. The aim is to investigate how messages in the form of text and visual communication are used to convince and influence in Hennes &amp; Mauritz's external environmental communication on the company's website. The questions raised are as follows:  1. What rhetorical messages are prominent?  2. What are these?  3. What visual arguments are applied?  4. How does the company profile itself as sustainable in environmental matters?  In order to answer the essay's question, a qualitative critical rhetorical analysis and the visual rhetorical analysis have been applied to my material.  The texts uses opposite conditions. Consumption and production are two opposites that must be met and combined in the argumentation. How fashion and clothing affect our climate and our environment negatively can be solved by recycling and not throw clothes into the garbage. The  sender, H&amp;M, has thus defined the problem early, when excluding production from the argument. Recycling of clothing becomes the only (true) option for sustainability. The text "Hållbart Mode" thesis establish early in the text "we want" that becomes "we do" to "you can" then "we together" and end with "you want" as a last call to the receiver. The roles are reversed and replaced. Messages are enhanced by style characters that are a way to explain, clarify and highlight. Style figures can also be used to make the audience look at the phenomenon from a certain angle. The use of the metaphors "give your clothes new life" contrasts with the term "dumpster", which represents a bigger problem then the thing in itself, when the figure synekdoke are used. "Definitionstopiker" are used when "sustainable" and "sustainable sources" constitute keywords that are omitted and reflect on the recipient's interpretation through the concept's positive associations and arguments can be legitimized without further explanation. The price represents causality between the market and the environment, shows the contradictions that the fashion industry faces today. The implicit message is that price and sustainability can be combined. H&amp;M offers the best of both worlds.  The visual analysis of the image serves as a complement to the text. The models wear jeans, the most resourceful garment with pride. As a positive effect of doing right, to recycle and reuse. The visual analysis of the film is based on the doxa prevailing in society. The message speaks to our feelings of responsibility and freedom.  The company profiles through ethos argumentation to legitimize itself as a conscious company towards its interests. By categorizing the competitors and even distancing themselves from the categorization "fashion industry" - the company points to its size as an advantage. The sender wants to appear rational and knowledgeable in the matter, benevolent by enlightening and contributing, as well as virtuous as moral is in focus, thereby fulfilling the criterion of a good speaker. The fact that most arguments are based on the sender's ethos may be the result of a reputation lost. / <p>Cecilia Mörner var examinator för den här uppsatsen medan Per Vesterlund var examinator för kursen och den som attesterade kursens betyg (och därför står som examinator på titelsidan men inte i metadata).</p>

The main question of this study was: How and in what way can a multimodal semiotic visual analysis model be developed and used for contributing to the analysis and understanding of the manner in which the Men’s Health (South Africa) magazine – as a case study – represents and constructs masculinities in South Africa? The following three subsidiary research questions were formulated to address this topic: • What is the literature revealing with reference to the media as producers of meaning in relation to masculinity and visual texts? • How and in which way can a semiotic visual analysis multimodal model be developed with the purpose of contributing to the analysis of visual texts? • What is the outcome of the visual analysis multimodal model with reference to the case study about the representation and construction of masculinities in visual texts in MH? The first aim of this research was to establish an overview of masculinities and to explore the visual representation of masculinity with reference to mediation, reality, and ideology in the media. With reference to the media as producers of meaning in relation to masculinity and visual texts, a semiotic visual analysis and social semiotics were used to unpack culture as a site of the production of meanings. The media is one of the main sources from which men receive their entertainment and information about the world. In this sense, the media makes sense of the world. Mass media plays a key role in discourse and constructing the relationships between reality and ideology. During this construction, the media reflects on existing opinions and attitudes in society. A quantitative content analysis and a qualitative semiotic multimodal visual analysis were conducted on 27 visual texts purposively selected from MH to include editions from July 2010 to June 2011. This population covered 12 front covers, 12 editorials and three flip covers. The developed visual multimodal model was tested qualitatively on nine visual texts since these texts included the front covers, flip covers and editorials of the three editions with flip covers. v A second major aim of the study was to establish the way in which a semiotic visual analysis multimodal model needed to be developed and used for analysing visual texts, as well as for analysing the visual texts according to the multimodal model in order to understand how the multimodality and social semiotic resources were applied in MH to represent and construct masculinities. The rationale for the development and design of this model was based on the premise that a basic understanding of semiotics and visual language was needed. Without such an understanding, the vast amounts of visual messages that confront the reader would remain incomprehensible. Consequently, a productive dialogue in relation to visual communication cannot take place. The multimodal model developed in this thesis highlights visual text layout, in conjunction with language-in-use, that does not occur in isolation and that is deeply reliant on other forms of making meaning. The heptagon multimodal model consists of concept maps of the six functions of the designed hexagon model. This multimodality approach includes analysing simultaneously occurring semiotics and their various roles in conjunction with detailed, all-inclusive discourses. In the quantitative content analysis and the qualitative multimodal semiotic analysis, the six components of the developed heptagon model (visual grammar, positioning, typography, colour, modality, and iconography) are illustrated. The quantitative research supported the main research design, i.e. the qualitative multimodal semiotic analysis. It is envisaged that the development and construction of a multimodal semiotic model will make a contribution to the scholarly field of semiotic analysis. By discussing the fluidity of the variations of masculinities and male identities, by giving a brief overview of the role of the media in constructing masculinities, and by focusing on the discourses that took place in MH, the researcher creates an awareness of the inherited patriarchal masculinities by recommending envisioned masculinities to be inclusive as a component of the solution. This approach is illustrated by the use and findings of the multimodal semiotic visual analysis. / Communication Science / D. Litt. et. Phil

CAPES / Esta pesquisa propõe uma reflexão sobre como a dimensão tecnológica na prática dos Microrroteiros da Cidade se constitui como fator fundamental de seus processos de co-construção e mediação de circulações, dinâmicas e possibilidades de desdobramento. Criado em 2009 pela artista e roteirista paulistana Laura Guimarães, o projeto consiste em pequenas intenções de roteiro que convidam à visualização de histórias e situações vivenciadas por pessoas que transitam e/ou habitam a cidade de São Paulo. A linguagem utilizada nos textos dos microrroteiros é, ao mesmo tempo, uma relativização do roteiro de cinema e do código técnico de escritura do Twitter – uma plataforma de microblogging que prioriza o compartilhamento por meio de mensagens curtas de até 140 caracteres. Por meio de levantamento fotográfico, entrevista e coleta de dados, realizamos um mapeamento dos trânsitos dessas dinâmicas e, posteriormente, desenvolvemos uma análise das opções tipográficas, dos variados suportes, composições e das conexões entre diferentes espaços geográficos identificados. A fundamentação da pesquisa é realizada a partir da Teoria Crítica da Tecnologia de Andrew Feenberg e da leitura do autor sobre as considerações de Herbert Marcuse em relação à tecnologia e a arte. Refletimos também a respeito de deslocamentos de processos artísticos e comunicacionais desencadeados a partir da década de 1960 por um viés teórico latino-americano, sustentado por Néstor García-Canclini e Jesús Martín-Barbero, no intuito de analisarmos como a prática dos Microrroteiros da Cidade e suas dimensões técnico-estéticas se constituem nas dinâmicas das redes sociais e dos códigos urbanos em que se localiza. Desse modo, compreendemos as hibridações de linguagens expressas nessa prática artística como deslocamentos que ocorrem não de modo linear, mas de maneira cruzada e simultânea, borrando fronteiras de autoria e de fruição passiva, possibilitando outras construções de visualidades, coletivos e randômicos, mediando processos de ressignificação e reapropriação da cidade. / This research proposes a reflection about how the technological dimension in the practice of Microrroteiros da Cidade constitutes a fundamental factor of its co-construction and mediation processes of circulation, dynamics and deployment possibilities. Microrroteiros’s project was created in 2009 by the artist and screenwriter Laura Guimarães. Its approach involves small script intentions that invites São Paulo’s population to imagine and visualize scenes that happen in the city. The language used in microrroteiros texts is, at the same time, a relativization of screenplay and Twitter’s technical code – a microblogging plataform that priorizes the share of 140 character messages. Through photographic survey, interview and collection of data, we made a transit mapping of this dynamics and, after that, we developed an analysis of the typographic options, the various media, compositions and connections between different geographic areas identified. The theoretical foundation of this research is based on Andrew Feenberg’s Critical Theory of Technology, and on considerations that this author does about Herbert Marcuse’s theorical position on technology and art. Supported by Néstor García-Canclini and Jesús Martín-Barbero, we observe some shifts of artistic and communication processes triggered from the 1960s by a Latin American theoretical bias, in order to analyze how the practice of Microrroteiros da Cidade and their technical and aesthetic dimensions are constitutive in the dynamics of social media and urban codes in which it is located. Thus, we understand the hybridizations of this artistic practice as displacements that occur in a nonlinear way, but crossed and simultaneous, blurring boundaries of autorship and enabling other visual, collective and random constructions, mediating processes of reinterpretation and reappropriation of the city.

Capes / Essa pesquisa pretende refletir sobre as interações socioculturais no uso técnico-estético da fotografia. Para tanto, seguiu-se uma metodologia de análises de imagens, e observações de práticas de oficinas de fotografia com jovens e crianças de Curitiba e Região Metropolitana, realizadas pela autora anteriormente a esse estudo. As análises basearam-se em estudos da imagem e semiótica visual. Contudo, tornou-se essencial estimular a compreensão dos sistemas de representações como construção social e possibilidades de expressão através da fotografia, tema desafiador em um tempo em que as representações visuais são naturalizadas, sem uma percepção crítica do que nos é colocado diante dos olhos. Partindo de um breve histórico da fotografia, seus modos de utilização na transformação social, buscou-se articular a prática e a apropriação fotográfica na construção do olhar de si, do outro e do entorno. Considerando a percepção um processo interativo e criador, atualizada nos usos da fotografia, tanto como linguagem quanto como aparato tecnológico, faz-se necessário despertar novos olhares e dar sentido a interpretações além das próprias imagens. / This research aims to reflect on the socio-cultural interactions in the techno-aesthetic use of photography. To do so, it was served as a method data analysis and observations of practices in photography workshops with youth and children in the metropolitan region of Curitiba, applied by the author before this research. The analyzes were based on studies of image and visual semiotics. Hence, it became essential stimulate the understanding of the systems of representations as a social construction, and the possibilities of expression through photography, challenging theme in a time when visual representations are naturalized, without having a critical awareness of what is placed in front of our eyes. We start with a brief historical analysis of photography, its modes of using it in social transformations, seeking to articulate the practice and photographic appropriation, the look construction the of yourself, of the others, and of the environment. Considering the perception as an interactive and creative process, and updated in different uses of photography, and it is used both as language and as a technological device, it became necessary to arouse new looks ans give more sensibility to other interpretations beyond the images themselves.

Capes / Essa pesquisa pretende refletir sobre as interações socioculturais no uso técnico-estético da fotografia. Para tanto, seguiu-se uma metodologia de análises de imagens, e observações de práticas de oficinas de fotografia com jovens e crianças de Curitiba e Região Metropolitana, realizadas pela autora anteriormente a esse estudo. As análises basearam-se em estudos da imagem e semiótica visual. Contudo, tornou-se essencial estimular a compreensão dos sistemas de representações como construção social e possibilidades de expressão através da fotografia, tema desafiador em um tempo em que as representações visuais são naturalizadas, sem uma percepção crítica do que nos é colocado diante dos olhos. Partindo de um breve histórico da fotografia, seus modos de utilização na transformação social, buscou-se articular a prática e a apropriação fotográfica na construção do olhar de si, do outro e do entorno. Considerando a percepção um processo interativo e criador, atualizada nos usos da fotografia, tanto como linguagem quanto como aparato tecnológico, faz-se necessário despertar novos olhares e dar sentido a interpretações além das próprias imagens. / This research aims to reflect on the socio-cultural interactions in the techno-aesthetic use of photography. To do so, it was served as a method data analysis and observations of practices in photography workshops with youth and children in the metropolitan region of Curitiba, applied by the author before this research. The analyzes were based on studies of image and visual semiotics. Hence, it became essential stimulate the understanding of the systems of representations as a social construction, and the possibilities of expression through photography, challenging theme in a time when visual representations are naturalized, without having a critical awareness of what is placed in front of our eyes. We start with a brief historical analysis of photography, its modes of using it in social transformations, seeking to articulate the practice and photographic appropriation, the look construction the of yourself, of the others, and of the environment. Considering the perception as an interactive and creative process, and updated in different uses of photography, and it is used both as language and as a technological device, it became necessary to arouse new looks ans give more sensibility to other interpretations beyond the images themselves.