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It is important to study both what people say and do in understanding the meanings they assign to words and images. Fred Dust of the design firm IDEO described talking with a woman about the concept of “luxury” in his research for a client. The woman was firm in saying that she led a very simple life and luxury was not important to her. After a week of observation, however, the researcher noticed her scheduling weekly manicure appointments. When asked about this, the woman said, “Well, that’s not a luxury, that’s a necessity.” In other words, her connotations of “luxury” were not those of the designer. The extended meanings we give to images and words also change over time. We often miss the symbolism in historical works of art, design, and literature because the connotations they depended upon are no longer part of our culture. And when designers pull visual references from the past, they reposition their older meanings under new purposes and contexts. The many, often humorous, commercial uses of Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa or Grant Wood’s American Gothic make it difficult for today’s audiences to understand the paintings only as expressions of their own times. Similarly, changes in the surrounding context can recast the field of associations we hold in memory. For most Americans of a certain age, for example, the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City now stand for something entirely different from their pre-2001 meaning as collaboration between government agencies and corporations in international trade. Media exposure reinforces new interpretations at an ever-accelerating pace. This constant churning of meanings tells designers that visual language is always in a process of renewal, never entirely stable. SUMMARY The shift in professional practice from designing objects to designing the conditions for experience argues for exploring what makes encounters with people, places, and things fulfilling and memorable. Philosopher John Dewey described an experience as a continuous unfolding of episodes that involves a relationship between doing and thinking. How satisfying the experience is depends on that relationship. Communication design organizes experience in a variety of structures. A story is structured by time and has a beginning, middle, and end; we understand and remember things easily through this recurring structure. The effectiveness of various media through which stories are told depends on the readiness of the audience to accept messages and to take action. Denotation and connotation are two levels of meaning we assign to messages. The first is the literal interpretation of content, while the second depends on associations we build by living in a physical and social world. The next chapter discusses how the vocabulary of messages contributes to these conditions. It is under these multifaceted notions of experience and context that designers do their work. It is convenient to talk about form and meaning as though they are two distinct concepts. But form is meaning, inseparable in experience. And what we think form means in any communication depends both on our accumulated experiences in a physical and cultural world and the specific conditions of the context in which we encounter messages. Typographic form also depends on its juxtaposition with other typographic elements for its connotations. Designer Sibylle Hagmann developed a family of typefaces called “Triple Strip” (Figure 2.2). Individually, any one of the three typefaces is formally complete and has visual characteristics distinct from the other two typefaces. When used together, however, the three typefaces reflect the vibe of a city street; the energy of colliding styles and messages we find in urban environments. This intentional lack of visual harmony among the three typefaces is in contrast to the design of many other type families in which there are strong similarities among the weight and proportional variations within the family. The meaning implied by Hagmann’s design, over and above the literal meaning of words set in the typefaces, depends entirely on the three typefaces appearing together. Type/image relationships present additional opportunities for the construction of meaning. Under the simplest relationships, words “label” images and images “illustrate” words. In these instances, the individual meaning of the two elements are roughly the same and largely redundant. They reinforce each other or tell us what to think about the other in case the single element doesn’t do the job. An advertisement that shows a sport utility vehicle splashing through a mountain stream bolsters the emotional content of the image with the words “rugged,” “sporty,” and “fit for adventure.” The words label what the designer intends us to feel about the image. In other cases, an image can illustrate and narrow the possible interpretations of a word. The word “women” on a lacey pink background reinforces traditional ideas of femininity, shutting down alternative representations of women that might come to mind from the word alone. For better or worse, the image directs the audience to the specific meaning the designer intends by means of illustration. More interesting, however, is when an element expands the interpretation or raises questions about the meaning of the other. Lacey pink typography that says “women” sitting next to a photograph of a woman in a hard hat with a sledgehammer says something about the diversity of women and their roles. The two views of women, one captured in typographic form and the other in photographic form, are in a dialogue that undermines conventional perceptions and expands meaning. In another example, “Billions and billions sold” is an advertising slogan that describes the number of hamburgers served by a popular American fast food chain. When coupled with images of overweight children, however, the text/image combination serves as critical commentary on the causes of obesity— a “third meaning” not present in either of the two messages alone. And the text/image message is stronger than single images of overweight children and hamburgers because the Figure 2.2 TripleStrip typeface Sibylle Hagmann, Kontour Hagmann’s design of the type family Triple Strip combines seemingly dissonant typeface designs. While any single typeface is formally complete, its true character is defined by its contrast to other members of the family. Used together, these three typefaces mimic the eclectic qualities of an urban street. Typographic form also depends on its juxtaposition with other typographic elements for its connotations. Designer Sibylle Hagmann developed a family of typefaces called “Triple Strip” (Figure 2.2). Individually, any one of the three typefaces is formally complete and has visual characteristics distinct from the other two typefaces. When used together, however, the three typefaces reflect the vibe of a city street; the energy of colliding styles and messages we find in urban environments. This intentional lack of visual harmony among the three typefaces is in contrast to the design of many other type families in which there are strong similarities among the weight and proportional variations within the family. The meaning implied by Hagmann’s design, over and above the literal meaning of words set in the typefaces, depends entirely on the three typefaces appearing together. Type/image relationships present additional opportunities for the construction of meaning. Under the simplest relationships, words “label” images and images “illustrate” words. In these instances, the individual meaning of the two elements are roughly the same and largely redundant. They reinforce each other or tell us what to think about the other in case the single element doesn’t do the job. An advertisement that shows a sport utility vehicle splashing through a mountain stream bolsters the emotional content of the image with the words “rugged,” “sporty,” and “fit for adventure.” The words label what the designer intends us to feel about the image. In other cases, an image can illustrate and narrow the possible interpretations of a word. The word “women” on a lacey pink background reinforces traditional ideas of femininity, shutting down alternative representations of women that might come to mind from the word alone. For better or worse, the image directs the audience to the specific meaning the designer intends by means of illustration. More interesting, however, is when an element expands the interpretation or raises questions about the meaning of the other. Lacey pink typography that says “women” sitting next to a photograph of a woman in a hard hat with a sledgehammer says something about the diversity of women and their roles. The two views of women, one captured in typographic form and the other in photographic form, are in a dialogue that undermines conventional perceptions and expands meaning. In another example, “Billions and billions sold” is an advertising slogan that describes the number of hamburgers served by a popular American fast food chain. When coupled with images of overweight children, however, the text/image combination serves as critical commentary on the causes of obesity— a “third meaning” not present in either of the two messages alone. And the text/image message is stronger than single images of overweight children and hamburgers because the Figure 2.2 TripleStrip typeface Sibylle Hagmann, Kontour Hagmann’s design of the type family Triple Strip combines seemingly dissonant typeface designs. While any single typeface is formally complete, its true character is defined by its contrast to other members of the family. Used together, these three typefaces mimic the eclectic qualities of an urban street.