Visual vs Symbolic Language

As we can see from the photo on the right, an elder veteran is embracing a younger veteran and it seems like an emotional embrace. The younger veteran is facing the camera but looking down with very sad eyes. The elder veteran has his back towards the camera and is embracing the younger veteran with his right hand griping the younger veteran's shoulder. Even though the younger veteran lost his left arm he is wearing an artificial limb and resting it on the elder veteran's back, and he is fulling embracing the elder veteran with his right arm with his hand on the elder veteran's back. The younger veteran is wearing a dark green uniform with red linings around his high collar and his cufflinks. He is also wearing a white officer's hat with black rims and a gold pin at the center of the hat. There are some blue and white metals on his left chest just above his white belt and a gold metal on his collar. The buttons and cufflinks are both gold and we can see he has three cufflinks on his left sleeve. There is a red and gold patch on the younger veteran's left arm shaped like a rectangle with top two corners chopped off. There are also red and gold stripes next to the younger veteran's gold cufflinks. As for the elder veteran, he is wearing a white officer's hat with lots of blue and yellow metal pins, and he is wearing a dark green uniform. There are four gold cufflinks on his right sleeve and he is wearing a yellow rubber like bracelet around his tattooed wrist. The elder veteran seems to be sobbing with his head rested on the younger veteran's chest. On the background there is a corner of the United States flag on the left corner of the picture and a little machinery that seems like a corner of a tank beneath the flag. There are three other people behind the two veterans. An army soldier wearing olive green, brown and beige camouflage uniform and a black officer's hat with a blue patch on the hat. He seems to be in his 40's and he has his hands crossed in front of his belly. The camouflage officer is standing very straight. There seems to be a women standing behind the younger and elder veterans. All we can see is her middle length blond hair and she seems to be wearing a black jacket. There is another elder officer standing behind the embracing veterans. He appears to be in his 60's and he is wearing a blue officer's hat with yellow cords around it. This officer is wearing thick glasses with a metal frame. He is also wearing a dark green uniform jacket with a white dress shirt and a navy blue necktie. There is a gold and red metal pined on his necktie. He also seems to be wearing artificial limbs but it is very hard to see due to the angle. The look on this officer is very emotional. All people in this picture seem to be Caucasian and the background wall is sand beige and there seems to be an extruding black window on the top overlooking these people.   


List of Words
- emotional
- solemn
- proud
- formal
- overwhelming
- touching
- serious
- heavy


Symbols
metals = status/rank
artificial arm = injury
standing still = ceremony 
flag = patriotic 
camouflage = combat/conceal
tattoo = stamp/mark/memory
suits = formal
black suit = formal
tank = military base

The two embracing veterans are the focal point of the scene due to its size. The camera is shooting the veterans from a lower angle expressing greatness and bravery. The people in the background are standing still and looking at a far distance suggesting they are participating in a ceremony. The flag, tank, and their emotional faces lead me to believe that this is a solemn military ceremony.  
  

Meaning 2: Interactions Between the 3 Levels of Meaning

Representational 
- identify what role it plays in the whole 
- describe what kind of impact it has for the user/viewer 
- how it relates to the other two levels 
This is the Panton plastic chair designed by Verner Panton and introduced to the world in 1968. It is a representative of a chair due to it's ergonomic form. People understand it's a chair by the curves and structure hinting where to sit and where to put one's legs. The impact of this chair is its chair form of elevating the sitting surface and the downward curve suggests where one would nest their bottoms. We can say the form of a furniture for one to rest in derives from function and ergonomics with the hollow shell on the bottom as weight support structure. The form (based on function/representation of a chair) also connects to an abstract form of a flower, a flowing brush stroke, water flow, or even symbolize the letter "S" or number  "5".

Abstract

In terms of the idea for creating this chair, Panton wanted to use a single piece of plastic and convey the messages of "Sleek, sexy and a technical first". The abstract form is created by the goal of fiberglass casting one piece of the chair. When multiple Panton chairs are arranged in different angles the composition portrays sexy strokes, sleek paint flow, or even swans in an abstract way. The abstractness of the chair when it's photographed artistically doesn't lose its meaning that "it's a chair" and symbol of "5" or a "S" or even a "V".

Symbolic
In Dondis's book, the author identify a symbol must "not only be seen and recognized but also remembered and even reproduced". The Panton chair highly associates with the symbols "S" and "5".

References: http://designmuseum.org/design/verner-panton 

MEANING 1 - Blog Exercise

Representation: the clock


The clock is a daily used product. In our basic knowledge, we have 24 hours a day and a generic clock manifests every 12 hours. The hands of this representational clock can clearly give us what we need to know. This image operates by showing the viewer with the short hand what hour it is, and the long hand tells us what minute it is. Although there are multiple forms of the device that tells us the time, this type (this image) is representational in the fact that it is installed in most schools and public spaces due to its readability.

Abstraction: Jasper Johns

This canvas created by Jasper Johns is called Corpse And Mirror II. It is composed of multiple short grouped lines, each group going in a different direction. These groups of colorful lines don't mean anything, really. Not even a segment of the lines represent an outline of an object or words. If you look at it subjectively, it has no relation to the title what so ever. One can only stare at the painting and try (very hard) to grasp the feelings the painter is trying to convey. Hence, one can only guess the abstraction derives from the sense that corpses and mirrors are both fragile and broken. The lines create triangle patterns which suggests distortion, looking like fragments of broken glass. Even though the colors are happy but they are just the three original colors-blue, yellow, and red, maybe suggesting the corpse which is dead- is the end of our journey and it goes back being the origin.

Symbolism: The handicap sign

This symbol has been around as long as I could remember. I think it is very clever and readable. Although not all handicapped people are in a wheelchair, the wheelchair does express the image of a person needing physical aid to transport. The lines are reduced to the minimum level, and the white lines with the blue background is very eye catching. The whole point of a symbol is to be readable and eye catching. We can obviously read this graph that it is a side view of a man sitting in a wheelchair, and that is why this symbol is so successful!