Photography

The way text is used to influence our emotions

Images and text can go hand in hand. But sometimes text can be used to make the image more powerful or easier to understand. But also good uses of text can our influence our emotions, making use want to take action or feel a different way.

Below is an ad for McDonalds, this plays with our childhood emotions. The ad is very simple and clean, it lets the text and the images do all the talking. It features an image of homemade sandwiches wrapped in McDonalds packaging. Without the text, the ad could have many meanings depending on its context. But the text makes it more clear and easy to understand. The text ‘Nice try Mom’ evokes our emotions and memories of our parents trying to disguise food. However in this case it’s a mom disguising food in McDonalds packaging. The ad is persuading the audience to go and buy McDonalds activating our hunger emotions.

How can you add text to change what an image means

As a designer you should never under estimate the power of text. Text speaks to us directly and gets our opinions across in black and white; people don’t have to make their own random assumptions of what it means.

But we can also use the power of text to change what an image means or make it more personal to us. Depending on its audience and context, text alongside photography can work very well and explain what the picture is saying.

Below is a poster for Levi’s. It features a man made out of copper wearing Levi jeans. But without the text I wouldn’t have been able to known any of this information.  By just looking at it, it looks like a film poster. But depending on its context and audience people could make other presumptions about it.

Advertising

William (Bill) Bernbach was born in New York City on the 13^th August 1911 and died in 1982. He was a famous advertising director and one of the co-founders of DDB (Doyle Dane Bernbach Inc.). He has created many famous ads and had a long lasting impression on advertising. He was known for his simplicity in design but also humour and an unorthodox style.

During and after the Second World War, the American government wanted Americans to think big.  They were sold a life which they were expected to aspire to, but it was all false. These big ways of thinking and ‘The American Dream’ were especially prominent in the way in which they advertised. Many of the ads of that time were very over the top and glamorous, they also expected its audience to spend lots of money. These ads didn’t appeal to most of America so it wasn’t talking to its audience. DDB (Doyle Dane Bernbach Inc.) were commissioned by VW to create an ad for its new VW Beetle. Bernbach broke all the rules of advertising and changed it for the better with this simple ad. It featured the phrase ‘Think Small’ which was the complete opposite to what the Americans were told to think. The car in the ad was also small with a lot of blank space. This weird and new to American advertisements and they never seen anything like it. But by having the car small and lots of blank space, it creates a better level of visual hierarchy; with the car being the first thing that your eyes are drawn to. 

Imagery is not the only important thing to think about when designing ads; you also have to think about the use of language to sell a product. Many of Bernbach’s ads for VW also showed a great skill of Visual language, this sometimes was more powerful than the imagery itself. One of the most famous ads featured just the word ‘LEMON’ and above it was an image of a VW Beetle. In America Lemon is seen as an insult, but Bernbach turned it round and made it humorous. This was a great use of visual language making the audience gasp and maybe be insulted. But at least they would remember the ad.

By looking at Bernbachs work it has inspired me greatly. It has taught me to think outside the box and try and break the rules when designing. You shouldn’t follow the current trend of design; you should create your own trend.

My Favourite Expert

Modern Graphic Design should be constantly pushing the boundaries, challenging the idea of what classes as Graphic Design today. Rezea Abedini is at the forefront of this movement. Hailing from Iran, his cultural heritage can be clearly felt in his work. Fusing illustration, Persian typography and Graphic Design, he creates work which is instantly recognisable and sits in its own category.

Abedini’s work has inspired me to be more creative and use my culture to influence my work. By using culture in your work, it has more personality and truly expresses who you are. It will also have its own identity and won’t be similar to anyone else. People will also be able to learn more about you, and see what influences you. By looking at Abedini’s work you can tell that he has been inspired by Persian typography and Iranian history. The colour pallet which he uses is more earthy and natural, colours which are widely used/found in Iran. 

In particular I like the way in which he uses Persian typography in his work. No other design uses typography this way. The type instantly catches your eye, and makes you pay attention even though you can’t read what it says. He doesn't use the type as text but more as imagery, making it the focal point of his work.

Rezea Abedini is my favourite expert simply because his work is so unique. He incorporates typography, photography and illustrations, making it all flow seamlessly. He inspires me to push the boundaries and be more experimentative with my designs.