- 6000-8000 word dissertation (aim for the upper word limit)
- Broken down into 4 chapters - 4 x 1500 word essays
- Think of a theme with a series of sub-theme you wish to investigate
- Coherent, organised and critical approach
- Ensure you include as much (relevant) primary research as possible
Methodologies
- Feminist, semiotic, psychoanalytical, marxist, ecological, postcolonial, narratology etc
- Theoretical way to look at a give subject
- Different lenses on a given topic will yield different results - how will you address it?
- Uniformed methodology
Primary research
- Interviews (with designers, the public etc)
- Questionnaires (if thought through and rigorous)
- Own analysis on works of design
- TV / Film / Animation
- Archives
CHECK VLE FOR RESOURCE
Design and Accessibility
Relationship between the designer and the audience and how this manifests itself
Communication - how people negotiate meaning
A -----> B Process / Linear model
How much does the designer consider the audience when designing?
How much does the audience understanding what the designer is trying to communicate?
The problem with process models are that they are linear / one-way
They don't understand that communication derives from both sources
Doesn't take into account the audience as a creator of meaning
A <-----> B
Be aware of the linear way of communication and semiotic theory
Communication within a social structure
Dependent on a sociopolitical context
Audience theory
- Models have emerged on the concept of semiotics that focus on audience
- Class, race, sex, gender etc
- Many of these issues are sometimes ignored by the designer
- Some designers see audience as a homogenous mass - same thoughts, ideals, aspirations
- Audience theory intends to abolish this
A, B, C1, C2, D, E - one way of 'categorising' an audience
Starts to look at social context creating communication as much as the designer
Frankfurt School
Adorno reduces society as one pliable mass of people without difference
Overestimates the power of the media
Effects model / Hypodermic syringe
Communication systems - mass media
Hypodermic syringe that 'injects' the mass audience
Reception theory
Similar to audience theory
Shows how meaning is created at the point of reception by the individual based on own circumstances
Meaning is not created in one source and transmitted (Shannon & Weaver)
David Morley (1980)
1) Preferred reading (dominant hegemonic)
- When you are sent a message by an advertisement, you are taking a preferred reading
- The message intended by the designer
- When you are sent a message by an advertisement, you are taking a preferred reading
- The message intended by the designer
2) Oppositional
- Opportunity for the same advert meaning something else to someone else
3) Negotiated
- Not accepting the dominant / preferred reading but don't totally oppose it either
Uses & Gratification model
- Extension on reception theory
- Emphasises that people use the media for their own ends, they are not manipulated
- Meaning of the media depends on the person - constantly shifts
THE DEATH OF THE AUTHOR (Roland Barthes)
Initial idea: Semiotics & myth in relation to logo and branding in its simplest form
