imagetext

Brand logos are probably the most evident examples of imagetext at work. Elements of text (language, words, names, letters) and elements of image (color, shape, visual structure) become co-dependent and create a new, instantly recognizable hybrid form, and ultimately, the logo itself becomes a standalone product, capable of manipulation while still retaining recognizability. Google, for example, changes its logo somewhat during important events. A snowman might adorn one of the O's during Christmas season, or a turkey and a cornucopia might decorate the G and E, for example. Since the basic elements of the Google logo (font, structure, color) remain the same, our minds still process the input as a play on the original logo, rather than an entirely new logo altogether. The most fundamental elements of imagetext persist.  read more »

In design, there two main elements: image and text. The two play off each other to inform the viewer--if one is improperly chosen and ill-suited to the other, the message will become skewed.

For instance, a poster for Steve's Old-fashioned Ice Cream Parlor wouldn't use Helvetica in its advertisement. As we've discussed, Helvetica is streamlined, clean, efficient, bureaucratic--and new. Obviously, it wouldn't function for Steve's store--he would opt for a warmer, nostalgic typeface, perhaps even a script.

Helvetica would function, however, as a typeface for a non-nostalgic parlor that served a variety of foods. It would work just as well for and ad for a chain store, such as Target, or for a flyer posted on campus advertising a used bike for sale. Target aims for the clean, modern feel to inform its images; the bike seller probably used the default setting. In these cases and many others, Helvetica works--the basic, the safe, the universal, the default. As a standalone, it functions clearly and simply in almost any case, but combined with image, it must undergo further consideration before being plunked into the workspace.

In class today we looked at the board and there was an example of how image and text can clash. I think it said something like, “capital letter a” and “lower-case letter A”. There was also an example of a large capital letter B, with the words, “this is not a B”. I don’t think I need to explain much more, you guys were in the same class I was. But, these exercises did make me think of a science project that my next door neighbor was doing back in High School. Just a quick summary: he took a poster board and but 30 colored squares on them; in the squares he wrote the name of a color that did not correspond with the actual color of the square. So, for example, he would have a blue square and he would write the word “green in the middle. The point of the exercise was to see how fast a person could correctly name all the colors of the squares without being thrown off by the word written in the middle. Surprisingly this was a very hard task. Your brain would see the color or the square but would instead say the word you saw, not the right color. Our discussion of image/text made me think of this exercise.  read more »