Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
vironment, a designer can gain a clearer understanding of the needs of the audience.
Don Tunstall, PhD, states 'Ethnography is a philosophical approach to human know-
ledge that says it's best to understand people based on their own categories of thought,
behaviour and actions.' It is not essential to carry out ethnographic studies with every
project, but it does provide a unique insight on how an audience views a product or
service.
Since ethnography can be expensive and timeconsuming, many designers use the
method of fabricating personas to gain a greater understanding of their audience. In
simple terms this means constructing a fictitious character who represents a whole
group or section of society. The character is given a name, and a description of their
attitudes, behaviours, environmental conditions, goals, personal details and skill sets
is built up. It is important to base these descriptions on research rather than on the
designers' opinion. Once constructed, the personas can be used to test out the func-
tionality or appropriateness of the solution to a design problem. It may be necessary
to use several personas to obtain an accurate assessment of the solution. A practical
exercise on creating a persona is set out later in this chapter (see pp. 37-39).
Semiotics
Factors such as colour-coding can be treated differently from country to country. For
example, the lettering on exit signs in Europe is green, whereas in the USA it is red.
The theory of semiotics looks at how meaning is constructed within cultures and ex-
plores how ideas are connected with words, images and objects. Colour can be used
as a sign to convey a meaning or mood to an audience.
Semiotics is defined as the theory of signs. The word 'semiotics' comes from the
Greek word semeiotikos , which means 'interpreter of signs'. Signing is vital to human
existence because it underlies all forms of communication. Signs are amazingly di-
verse. They include gestures, facial expressions, speech, slogans, graffiti, commer-
cials, medical symptoms, marketing, music, body language, drawings, paintings, po-
etry, design, film, Morse code, clothes, food, rituals and primitive symbols. Signs
are important because they can mean something other than themselves. For example,
spots on your chest can mean you are ill, while a blip on the radar screen can mean
impending danger for an aircraft. Reading messages like this seems simple enough,
but a great deal hangs on context. Spots on your chest need to be judged in a medical
context; similarly, signs are not isolated - their meaning depends on the contexts in
which they are read and understood.
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