The Shannon - Weaver Mathematical Model - 1949
- Hired by the American army, who wanted to refine their communication systems - Make them more efficient.
- Understand when communication broke down, how it was specifically breaking down.
- Mainly radio & telephone communication in which they studied.
- Been taken as a model for communication in a wider sense, even in a visual & social sense.
- Understand the different component parts of communication. Communication is more complex than "A to B" - it takes place in situations, etc.
Eg. Radio
- Information source - Person saying the message into the radio.
- Transmitter - Encodes into an electric signal
- Channel - Into a frequency
- Receiver - Decoded by a radio
- Destination - The ear
Graphic Design
- Information source - Brief / Client
- Transmitter - Designing - Encoded by the designer
- Channel - Format of design & distribution
- Receiver - An audience - Anyone who sees it in the street
- Destination - Target market
Predict ways in which these could go wrong at any stage, and work out how to remedy them.
What sort of things could happen at each of those stages, that would effect communication negatively?
- Brief / Client - Broad / misleading brief or personality clashes
- Designing - Interpret the brief wrong / not even finish it & the talent of the designer.
- Format of design & distribution - Choosing the wrong format / context of design (eg. a billboard somewhere which doesn't target your audience) or production mistakes, eg. ink bleeding.
- Audience - Anyone who sees it in the street - Finding out your 'audience' is different to your original thoughts.
- Destination - Target market - The message is not communicated
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Design is most about understanding the latter stages, from destination to information source.
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Noise interferes with communicative act - eg. a telephone line / bad signal
In Graphic Design - Typos/ badly written brief, human interaction as a distraction.
- Transmitter - Mac not working
- Designer 'down the pub'
- Reciever - Something hiding the design, eg a tree & billboard
- Destination - Facilitation through gossip - 'Don't wear these shoes, I'd rather have leprosy than wear these shoes'
- Rival designers / companies with other messages.
The Model Was Broken Down Further...
Level A - Technical Problems
How accurately can the message be transmitted?
- Printer not working - Get a better printer, mockups, time and planning, designing with understanding that technical flaws can occur. Playing it safe.
- Printing things wrong - Same as above
- Issues with your computer - Use a different computer / get it fixed
Level B - Semantic Problems
How precisely is the message conveyed (& understood)?
- If the brief was written badly / bad wording -
- Functionality of design (readability & legibility) - eg. unclear typography -
- Bad grammer in body copy - get a Copywriter, someone to check it
- Context - Sub cultures and minorities may understand things differently - Not understanding the lingua franca of your audience
Level C - Effectiveness Problems
How effectively does the received meaning affect the behaviour?
- low reception - change method of distribution
Criticisms:
The communication process isn't so linear, there is much more dialogue. There would at least be a 'feedback loop', be that through market research, focus groups, etc..
NOISE - Anything unintended added to the signal between transmission & reception - eg. Zines, produced by people cheaply - A lot of technical noise.
- Rather than being a problem, sometimes noise is a desirable outcome.
- Sometimes the Graphic Designer wants to be the 'noise' that fits into an already existing communication system.
eg. Graffiti:
Design:
Redundancy Vs. Entropy
Redundancy
High Predictablility / Low information
- 'The path of least resistance' - If you have a telephone line and it communicates 100 % accurately, it is 100 % redundant.
- Always totally predictable for communication to function perfectly.
- Very conventional, understandable - This means very little information is communicated. This avoids technical semantic problems.
- Eg. A handshake - No one would take it as offence, this is a gesture of friendship. A predictable message, mass widely understood & conventional. Because of that, it contains low information.
- A Freemason handshake would be less redundant, due to it being more complicated and with more information having to be understood.
- Society relies on redundancy, and without it, relationships would be much harder to fill.
- Going to a fast food restaurant is a perfect example of redundancy.
The symbol for a toilet - a universally agreed sign.
- Redundancy can be used to reinforce stereotypes.
- Highly effective, but conservative.
Entropy
Low Predictability & Unconventional
- Moments of bleeding out of communication line - Gas Pipe with Entrupy on it - Losing gas.
A handshake with an electric shock - A shocking, unexpected means it is highly informative.
- A Hawaiian restaurant made in a Bauhaus style.
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The visual communicator aims for redundancy. The Fine Artist aims for Entropy. They are less interesting in communication already understood.
As a designer, you need to consider slipping from redundancy into entropy. Sometimes Entropy can be your aim & desirable. You may want to challenge a system of communication.
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TASK: A critical analysis a piece of communication, using the model. eg. TV Programme, something from the news - Consider social context. Look at where communication methods break down. The relevance of redundancy.
- Presentation will be on E Studio -
The look of aggression when on its own, strange and confusing. When presented on the news to the target market (predominantly white), the editor has built in strategy for increasing redundancy - communicating what they wanted to show - Rioting black people - 'Demo blacks clash with London police'
Sagmeister & Walsh - Entropic or Redundant?
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