Rhetoric of the image

I have read as the first part of the assignment, "The Rhetoric of the Image" by Roland Barthes. As this essay was originally in French then converted into English, I found the language used hard to follow. Once I met up with the group it became more clear his intentions for the text and related it back to our own discipline. We discussed the essay as a whole and the implications that we may come across in Textile Design.

In our groups we discussed styles of clothing and how they portray our personalities and different cultures. As images can be open to interpretations we as designers, if we want to target a wide multi-cultural audience need to take into consideration colour and symbols. If my target market was for the elder generation and I was adding text, I wouldn’t use yellow. This is because as there eye sight starts to deteriorate, they struggle to see this colour.

As a textile designer my final outcomes are designs rather than a replica of the source material that I have developed. In this case depending on the target market or if it was for a special awareness campaign, then text may be needed to identify where my design has came from. But as a designer I should be able to produce a piece that contains hidden semiotics that I explain myself enough through my work rather than adding typography. Although clients may interpret my work in a different way from what I intended, in my personal opinion I don’t see this as a bad thing. They may prefer to see my work from a different light and still want to purchase it.

For this assignment referring to Barthes essay I created my own experiment using semiotics and adding text to see if it changed the participants interpretation. I found random images from the website www.sxc.hu. I selected images from “randomizer” which gave me a selection of images that had no links between them so for my own experiment I had no idea what the outcome would be.

I started my experiment by talking to participants, giving the images to them in a random order. They could re-order them into a sequence that would let them write down their response in a story. I gave the same participants a forth image then removed a forth image and added a textual image.

I noted down my own story initially so I could have an image and text already prepared to influence their story to copy mines. I wrote: I had lunch in the zoo café eating strawberries and melted chocolates. Before heading home I took pictures of the lions sitting in the shade. It hung my washing out to dry before getting dark.

The image I added was a magazine cut out of a happy couple and the text saying ‘lunch’.

Results:

Serena, 19 – Art Student
Three images:
I went to the zoo and seen the lions. Then I went home for lunch with strawberries and chocolate for dessert. It rained in the afternoon so I had to hang my clothes up on the washing line to dry.
Adding forth image:
On the way to the zoo there was a big cheesy advert about a happy couple. At the zoo there was a lion family. When it was lunch time I ordered a strawberry and chocolate desert. It dropped it on my top so I had to wash it then hang it on the washing line.
Adding text:
The lions in the enclosure escaped and ate a happy couple visiting the zoo for lunch whilst eating strawberries.

Ailsa, 19 – Art student
Three images:
The safari park keeper hung up her washing with wooden pegs before going out to feed the lion and the cubs with fresh fruit.
Adding forth image:
A husband lovingly prepared some fresh fruit, cream and chocolate as his wife hangs out the washing. Later, they go to the zoo to see the lions.
Adding text:
A husband lovingly prepared some fresh fruit, cream and chocolate for lunch as his wife hangs out the washing. Later, they go to the zoo to see the lions.


Claire, 19 – Art Student
Three images:
The keepers at the zoo decided to have a little game for the lions. They wanted to give the lions exercise and combined it with food. They hung up strawberries with pegs so the lions have to jump up and pounce to get their food.
Adding forth image:
A couple decided to hang the washing on the line to indulge in some fruit and strawberries at the zoo watching the lions.
Adding text:
A couple decided to hang the washing on the line to indulge in some fruit and strawberries for lunch at the zoo watching the lions.

Michaela, 19 – Art Student
Three images:
The family went on a nice day out to celebrate something. They washed and dried their Sunday best, had a nice lunch with strawberries, etc then went to the zoo.
Adding forth image:
A happy family had a nice lunch with strawberries, put on clean clothes and went to the zoo.
Adding text:
A happy family put on clean clothes and went to the zoo, stopped and had a picnic.

I found that although the images can be polysemy all my participants interacted with the images the same way I did. Although the images were obviously laid out in different order, they all formed a similar story. With my forth image, I found that I was able to create my target story. Adding the single text to the three original images I was able to consolidate the story I was aiming for. Refering back to the Barthes essay he explains stereotype. He used a pasta advert to have connotations of ‘Italian’ culture. Strawberries have a stereotype of being romantic. When I added the forth image of a family and the textual image saying ‘lunch’ they all said they ate strawberries together for lunch. This provides evidence that using stereotypical images can produce a desired outcome.

I feel I would have gained better results if I had added a single text to each images for example no one noticed the odd peg on the end of the line. Barthes essay was merely about adding language to images to focus their idea on a particular aspect. Unfortunately due to my participants being the same sex and all directly have a passion for art my experiment was biased. I would recreate my experiment using the same images but varying their occupation and how much they are related to art in their everyday lives.