Posted: September 19th, 2007 | Author: Alberto Rigau | Filed under: ContemporaryCulture, NC State, SeminarWork | Tags: Contemporary Culture, Cultural Ideas, Culture, design thinking, Graduate School, Graduate School Terminology, Graduate Studies, Graduate Studies in Graphic Design, Graphic Design, NC State, NC State College of Design | No Comments »
New terms and ideas that I am being exposed to in the book Practices of Looking by Marita Sturken and Lisa Cartwright
] Spectatorship [
A theory that emphasizes the role of the psyche–particularly the unconscious, desire, and fantasy– in the practice of looking. In the theory, the term spectator does not refer to a flesh-and-blood individual viewer, rather, it treats it as an "ideal subject".
] The Subject [
Or ideal subject, abstracts from real audience members and the experience of a particular film to refer instead to a construction.
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Posted: September 18th, 2007 | Author: Alberto Rigau | Filed under: ContemporaryCulture, DesignCulture, DesignProfession, DesignWork, NC State, StudioWork | Tags: Business, Collaboration, Communication, Design Practice, Strategy | 1 Comment »
Ten (10) Possible Strategies for Designers to Improve Communication Management with Communities
by Jorge Rigau, FAIA and Alberto Rigau
The following are not presented in any particular order, as implementation of all or some strategies may vary from case to case:
1. Elucidating the Big Picture
Community members often argue their cases focusing in particulars, often missing a large scale, wider-scoped understanding of the issue at hand.
2. Make the Community’s Questions Your Own
Identify questions and concerns that are key to the conflict and address them before they are articulated as such. Answer them directly, and proceed to explain; not otherwise. Making sense is about acknowledging pro’s and con’s.
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Posted: September 13th, 2007 | Author: Alberto Rigau | Filed under: ContemporaryCulture, DesignCulture, NC State, SeminarWork | Tags: Contemporary Culture, Cultural Ideas, Culture, design thinking, Graduate School, Graduate School Terminology, Graduate Studies, Graduate Studies in Graphic Design, Graphic Design, NC State, NC State College of Design | No Comments »
New terms and ideas that I am being exposed to in the book Practices of Looking by Marita Sturken and Lisa Cartwright
] Text [
A term extended by Barthes to include visual media such as photography, film, television, or painting, to suggest that they are constructed on a basis of codes in the same way that language forms a text. Insofar as they are constructions, texts can be broken down into their component parts through the work of analysis. Barthes in particular distinguished texts from works, such as art works, to indicate an active relationship between the writer and reader or artist/producer and viewer. This is because the constructed nature of the text implies that its meaning is produced in relationship to the viewer rather than simply residing in the work itself. To treat an art work as text means that we read it through codes rather than passively absorb or stand in awe of it.
] Aesthetics [
Beliefs and theories about the value, meaning, and interpretations of things.
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Posted: September 12th, 2007 | Author: Alberto Rigau | Filed under: ContemporaryCulture, NC State, SeminarWork | Tags: Contemporary Culture, Cultural Ideas, Culture, design thinking, Graduate School, Graduate School Terminology, Graduate Studies, Graduate Studies in Graphic Design, Graphic Design, NC State, NC State College of Design | No Comments »
New terms and ideas that I am being exposed to in the book Practices of Looking by Marita Sturken and Lisa Cartwright.
] Means of production [
In marxist theory, the means of production are the ways in which a society makes use of the natural resources of the world around it to make useful things. In Marxist theory, those who own the means of production are also in control of the ideas that circulate in a society's media industries.
] Representation [
The act of portraying, depicting, symbolizing, or presenting the likeness of something. Language, the visual arts, and media are systems of representation that function to depict and symbolize aspects of the real world. Representation is often seen as distinct from simulation, in that a representation declares itself to be re-presenting some aspect of the real, whereas a simulation has no referent in the real.
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Posted: September 11th, 2007 | Author: Alberto Rigau | Filed under: ContemporaryCulture, DesignCriticism, DesignWriting, Personal, Photography | Tags: Adobe Photoshop, Fast-food photography, food, food photography, Image manipulation | No Comments »
The third in a series of articles published in Mangrove magazine in 2004. These are not deep in academic research, but a fun read.
Photo chop
Fast-food restaurants promote indigestion in more than one way. Customarily, visual references used to advertise the menu –that is, photographs– are more than often fake. Most of the products showcased as value meals were never photographed as a group, but instead “stitched” from different sources. Not only clients save in buying a soda, sandwich and fries. Owners also play cheap by resorting to digital compositions that ultimately deceive the public. To add to the debate about the nutritional attributes of fast food, we can certify it can also endanger visual health.
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