Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 1. Anna Ursyn, “The Swirl” (© 1987, A. Ursyn. Used with permission).
analog and the digital, generative art works result
in precise images with perfect lines that follow
intentional transformations.
Metaphors help us focus on an issue and fa-
cilitate understanding of the idea. Many times this
happens through the use of a meta-language, as
in case of tweets where people involved in a field
of study communicate using specific terms and
their metaphorical explanations. Metaphor may
be seen as a crucial concept and a basic structure
in our communication through the senses because
any sensory signal: an image, melody, gesture, a
figure of speech, or an action may serve for trans-
lation of an abstract concept, intangible idea, or
a distant unreachable object into something ac-
cessible for our perception.
Metaphors are often visual. Images serve as
metaphors, icons, and archetypes. A visual meta-
phor presents a picture of an easy-to-recognize
object that represents another, so we may make a
mental comparison of something that is not easily
understood to something visible. Visual metaphors,
which make undetectable concepts visible, are in-
herent in our thought, and thus enable visualization
of abstract ideas. Visual metaphors enable us to
translate abstract knowledge into a realm of familiar
actualities that we can experience or see. With a
metaphor as a basic structure for communicating
messages we can select characteristics or qualities
of a concept that are the most important for our
purpose. A cognitive linguistics professor George
P. Lakoff wrote that metaphors address cognitive
abilities to abstract the essence of the idea. We do
that by removing all features that are not crucial to
the essence of the concept. Conceptual metaphors
allow for understanding an abstract or unfamiliar
domain in terms of another, more familiar con-
crete domain (Lakoff, 1990). In a similar way we
compress a file for the web and compress audio or
video, for example for distance learning.
Metaphor is not only an ornament to a language
but also a tool of conceptual economy that is used in
