tomoko takashi

I enjoy the chaos of Takashi's work, and I like the way that she experiments with radical compositions. However I don't fully understand the concept behind it. The compositions are interesting and clearly thought out to an extreme degree, but I find them too controlled.

Roni Horn

Horn tries to explore the mutation of art through her photographs. I find her work hypnotic and seductive, but there is certainly something eerie about some of her images.She decribes drawing as the key activity in all her work, because drawing is about composing relationships; which I think is a very interesting perspective. In many way's I think that this is very true and a very good way of explaining visual communication.

tim noble & sue webster

I think these are really interesting images; they make you doubt your perception of things, and how they initially appear. I also love the self-portrait element of the photographs; the shadows typically being silhouettes of themselves.

Annie Liebowitz

Annie Liebowitz has the ability to really capture the character and personality of her model; whether it be celebrity or stranger. I think that it is this skill that makes her such an incredible photographer. There always seems to be a real connection between model and photographer, which is extremely apparent in her work.

What I love most about these images for Vanity Fair is the way that the groups of famous actors and actresses that we would normally associate with being fairly untouchable, are presented to be casually grouped together to create some kind of super-celebrity. I also love the composition; the way that the images run across 3 pages but together make one long phototgraph.

A lot of her images are flirtatious and sexual, but also reflect very classical compositions.

I also lover her sense of humour, for example the image below:

She seems to capture the image of the 'celebrity'; strong, god-like characters, with an elevated status from the rest of us, as well as she manages to create the weak and the vulnerable. In this image of a victim of domestic violence, you really can read her pain; the way that her gaze is lost and longing, and the fact that she doesn't look straight on at the camera. I think that it is Liebowitz's ability to build relationships with her models that encourages them to bare themselves to the camera fully.

This photograph of Yoko Ono is one of my all time favourite photographs. I can't put my finger on why exactly, as I don't find the composition as intriguing or as interesting as some of her other work, but I just love the subtlety of it. She has a wonderfull abitity to capture a persons persnality.

Erika Raberg

I find this image by Erika Raberg both disturbing and really beautiful. The childhood iconography of a child with a bunch of balloons is something that you associate with being innocent and angelic, but this photograph radically alters your perception of that image in an instant. Even though all that is vi sable is the balloons and the tiny feet poking out of the bath, you know exactly what is being depicted. I think that you could draw multiple messages from this image, such as the death of a persons childhood etc. I actually find this image strangely beautiful and not at all sinister.

Ablelardo Morell

In these images by Ablelardo Morell, he appears to have exposed two images into one composition, creating some really interesting images. What I like especially is the contrasts he draws between outside and inside.

Jeff Wall

I love the implied spontaneity of this image by Jeff Wall. The blown paper creates a horizontal pattern along the bottom of the composition. I also love the amount of space in this photograph, the main event of the image occurring in the bottom third of the composition, with the spindly branches of the tree creeping up into the two top thirds.

What is Graphic Design? Part Two: Work the Metaphor

These images show the 3D recreations of Milton Glaser's 'I Love NY', by typographer Oded Ezer. This is a good example of a designers own interpretation of an image from the past. I really like the effect, and I think it represents a contemporary take on a once modern design.

This image is an advertisement for a graphic design company called dDesign, which specialises in packaging design, mainly in the food industry. I love the simple representation of packaging with the use of an egg shell, and the way that it appears as though it has been printed onto. What I especially like is the choice of object, as an egg is a perfectly designed element within nature, giving the message of perfection, practically and a really organic form.

These Australian advertisements for Purell, to promote sanitizing your hands demonstrates the message the 'You are what you touch' by using the visual imagery of a hand, made up of all the things that you have come into contact with that day on your hand. I think the idea works because the message is clear, and it really does make you think about what you have on your own hands. The love the illustrations, which I think are really eye-catching. The image of the product in the bottom right hand corner really helps to bring the whole concept together, making it clear what the message is.

This PR logo for 'The Talk' is a good example of a visual metonym. I think the way that they have used easilly regognisable symbols (i.e. quotation marks) to create the image of a face talking works really well because of its clever but simple representation.

These images are by German graphic designer Axel Peemöller. To create these images he has attatched a pen to the end of a metal wire, the other end connected to the mouse. In doing this he has recorded the mouse movement on paper while he has constructed the letterform digitally. The messages that I interpret from this, are the contrasts between the digital and the hand drawn, and the perhaps the hidden creativity and energy that goes into creating each letterform which we wouldn't normally be aware of. I simply love the concept, and I think it produces some really interesting visual results.

Another design by Axel Peemöller that I came across was this way-finding-system for the Eureka tower car park, which is in Melbourne. He distorted the letters on the wall so that they can be read perfectly when standing at the right position. I think that this is a really interesting way off communicating a message to an audience (i.e. the drivers).

In this Greenpeace campaign against GM foods, the designer is trying to communicate the question of whether you actually know what is in the food you eat. They have done this by sing the visual metaphor of a scorpion made from carrots. I like the concept being delivered; that perhaps you should take a second glance at the food you eat, but I think that without the information at the bottom of the poster it would be difficult to understand the message. On the other hand, I think that it is a very eye-catching image which makes you look twice, which is exactly the point in the campaign.

This image portrays the message the 'Knowledge is power' by using the visual metaphor of a gun to suggest the power element of the idea. The words themselves are used to make up the form of the image, making the message even more clear to the audience. I think that this is a clever metaphor, but the message is not as subtle as some of the other examples I have looked at.

What is Graphic Design? Part Two: Work the Metaphor

This image called 'The big squeeze' by Israeli graphic designer Noma Bar uses a visual metaphor to represent the oil gains to be made from Iraq. He uses the negative space between the thumb and forefinger to create the image of a huge drip of oil, visually being squeezed from the tiny country. This is the first Israeli artist I have ever knowingly come across and I'm really interested to see more.... I really like the simple concept and I think the message is really well presented, and clear, especially when put into context.

This is another piece by Noma Bar entitled 'When Doves Cry'. Bar has used the imagery of two crying doves and a VW camper van to represent the mourning of the death of the hippy dream.

I love his simplistic imagery and style, and use of visual metonym to communicate a simple. clear but interesting theme.

This controversial advertisement exploits the 'pornification' of our western culture. There is no doubt that sex sells, but this image created uproar. They have used sex as a way to make the audience stop and stare, which I think it does, but I honestly think it's almost too shocking. The clothes which the models are supposed to be selling do seem to pale into insignificance in this ridiculously explicit scene.

This Japanese logo for the 'love your earth' design competition uses a visual metonym to represent the context. I think it is really interesting that the use of images, and symbols even more so, can create a language which is universal, actually making image far more powerful than word.

These advertisements from Saatchi and Saatchi for a campaign called 'People in Need', to raise awareness for people in other countries that are so poor that the people are struggling just to survive, while using our consumerism as a weapon to guilt trip the audience. I think that this is a brilliant way of raising awareness, actually materializing the things that these people need in a language that the greedy English public will understand. There is something seriously dark about these images, seeing these people accessorizing with these products almost seems to exploit them in some way. In my opinion this only makes the audience understand the severity of the issue even more.

This advertisement for a French beer uses imagery to represent different cultures; the german sausage representing the 'German Character', and the woman dressed in the traditional dress at the time of the French revolution representing the 'French Refinement'.

This French Aids campaign uses this hideously disturbing, but extremely powerful imagery to emphasise the horror of aids, using these terrifying, giant insects to represent the aids virus being sexually transmitted. Both are in settings furbished in white, and both human characters glamorous and attractive, only making the contrast with the black insects even more vivid. I think it's fair to say that only the French could get away with this!

This smoking awareness poster by Tahamtan Aminian, an Iranian graphic designer, uses calligraphy to communicate the message along with incredibly simplistic imagery. I suppose this is in a way, a visual metaphor; using the calligraphy as a replacement for the build up of ash. I actually love the way that I cannot read the advertisement, the Iranian calligraphy creates an interesting visual image, and the fact that its lost in translation allows us to interpret the the campaign in an entirely visual way. I think it's still fairly clear what the message is.

This may not be one of the most famous images of Saul Bass, but it's one of my favourites. This poster for Billy Wilder's comedy 'One, Two, Three' uses visual metaphor in the way that the 3 balloons are displayed comically across the woman's chest where her breasts would be. This communicates both the sexual and humorous elements of Wilder's comedy.

What is Graphic Design? Part Two: Work the Metaphor

This album cover for De La Soul' album 'De La Soul is Dead' shows a visual metaphor in response to the public view of them as music artists. De La Soul did not necessarily follow the modern trends in rap, like guns and violence, so gained a reputation for being a bit 'soft'. As a response to this they used the image of some pretty, innocent flowers that have been savagely pushed over!

This visual metonym entitled 'Follow Passion, Not the Buck' uses simple symbols to make reference to love and money. It works because these symbols are universally recognisable, including the 'greater than' symbol linking the two and explaining the entire context of the image.

This visual metaphor really made me laugh. Simple imagery on a toilet of a plane 'dropping bombs' need I say anymore?

This image by Michal Batory is to advertise a piano competition. He cleverly uses a visual metaphor, using black and white skinned fingers to represent a piano, as well as possibly communicating messages of racial unity.

In this image, 'The World in our Hands', the designer is trying to communicate the idea that what happens to out planet is down to us. They have used extremely simple imagery to communicate this in the form of a visual metaphor, using hands cupped gently to represent the world. The image is subtle and personal.

In this photograph by Mladen Penev, the visual metaphor is the way that the 'Power of books' is being represented in a very physical and powerful way, whereas in reality books have no physical force in this way. The message communicated to the audience is that books can have more impact on you than you'd perhaps imagine. I love the way that Penev has managed to actually create some fairly dark visual imagery in relation to books.

In this campaign advertisement, the American Red Cross are using an image of a starving pig money box as a metaphor for the lack of funding. The message is instantly clear; a piggy bank is an iconic image that arguably everyone recognises, but the undernourished pig show here instantly communicates the idea of a lack of money.

This image for poster by Luba Lukova uses very simple, literal imagery, with a no nessacarilly straight forward meaning; she is using an umbrella skeleton to suggest a lack of cover, and the medical symbol as the handle of the umbrella to subtley communicate the link to health. This is how the audience discover that the message is about health coverage.

This editorial cartoon by Manny Francisco uses visual metaphor to communicate his view of BNP Paribas.

In this visual metaphor the designer is communicating the idea of your brain working for you. Although the image is highly detailed, the actual visual message is pretty straight forward.