The Feltron Report

The Feltron Report is a piece of statistical information that logs how many hours Nicholas Feltron played on Grand Theft Auto 4. The way the statistics are layed out in the piece make the figures bold and clear. The piece of graphics itself looks very interesting and is good to look at and at a glance it looks well put together but it's also messy and hard to follow because the statistics and figures stand out so boldly but the information next to the figures are miniscule. The top piece which is clearly the GTA4 map cut up and made into an information map looks visually impressive because of the creative way it has been cut up and re-placed together like a jigsaw.

Drugs World

In this piece there is a lot of information and it seems to just jump out at you. This poster is a sort of threshold diagram showing the many different types of drugs and how they are linked together. The diagram is cut into four parts: Stimulants, Depressants, Antipsychotics and Hallucogens. One word to describe this piece is informative. The way it has been made is that a lot of information has been fitted in and although at a first glance it looks random it is very well put together and there is a purpose and a scheme to it.

World Map of Touristyness

This is a map that represents how different parts of the world can have a substantial difference in tourism than other parts. The way this information is displayed is very interesting. There's almost no writing whatsoever and all of the information is displayed in a world map displaying the information and the differences using a 'hot and cold' area method. the way it is displayed is subtle and easy to understand and is intreaguing to look at.

Grind Coffee Packaging

The packaging for these coffees I thin are very well presented. The boxes blend together and stand in a line to create neatly, subtle cut colour scheme. The richness of the colours and the combination of the column of key words describing how unique, rich and flavourful the coffee is makes viewers of this product feel an urge to buy it. The packaging is effective for the product and the packaging serves it's purpose well.

Information Graphics

Information graphics or infographics are visual representations of information, data or knowledge. These graphics are used where complex information needs to be explained quickly and clearly, such as in signs, maps, journalism, technical writing, and education. They are also used extensively as tools by computer scientists, mathematicians, and statisticians to ease the process of developing and communicating conceptual information.

FourHourArtsShow Poster

Sign
The sign in the image is a poster for an Arts Show. It's presumably linked to Typography.

Signifier
The Signifier in this image is the dark red, scarlet even, bold horizontal text with the show title and date standing out in the middle of the poster. There is also grey/white typographic text behind the red text which in the way it is printed on; looks collage-like. And behind all of this text is a business newspaper.

Signified
The scale of the deep read Typography is ultimately eye-catching. The poster itself isn't anything special, it isn't amateur but it isn't brilliantly designed either. What is good about this poster though is the way the appealing red text stands out on top of the faded text and the business paper; it's dark, grungy and brooding and leaps out above the light background in this urban piece.

Bob Dylan "Together Through Life" Album Cover

Sign
Bob Dylan album cover.

Signifier
In this cover the signifier is the black and white image of the young man and woman, curled up and kissing in the back of a car. The letterforms, cracked and grungy but neat and bold in it's structure. Which is probably the result of a letterpress, handprinted in all it's quality. The colours are subtle and effective, darker red and navy.

Signified
The slogan "Together Through Life" hints at sum sort of subliminal meaning in the roadie image of the pair of young lovers. Maybe this is life? The best that it gets? To lounge in the back of a car getting cosy with your significant other. The image, black and white, blurring out the excess outside of the young couple; bringing them into focus as much as possible.

Iron Maiden Album Cover

Sign:
The sign is the Iron Maiden album cover 'A Matter of Life and Death'.

Signifier
The Signifier in this image is the treacherous, apocalyptic warzone depicted in the image. The cities burnt in the background are the aftermath of a powerful, destructive force that has set the cities ablaze through war. At the head of all this are 6 fearless soldiers protected by their rampaging war machine on their way back from the dilapidated city.

Signified:
The Signified in this poster is what is represented by all of this destruction and chaos and the meaning of the skeleton soldiers. The fact that these soldiers are skeletons may be an indication that they're already dead. Wether they're dead on the inside or they are dead. "A Matter of Life and Death" is the tagline. In destruction like is depicted then you have to lose all humanity to survive and have no sympathy, pity, remorse or empathy. These soldiers are still left standing because of this. They are heartless creatures and they are already dead... on the inside. Another theory would be that we are already in hell and all out chaos is inevitable.

World Typographic Poster

Sign The sign is the displayed Typographic world map.

Signifier The Signifier is the world map itself. Each country has typographic elemental names to the countries, very creative. The bigger the country the bigger the text crammed in to the country. The whole scale of this image is large and in perspective. The background to the map (or what would be the sea) has dark corners and a sort of distorted glass feel when zoomed in. But when zoomed out the background looks like a paper bag texture which combines the cream and black typographic countries to make a nice, clean cut and slightly dark colour scheme.

Signified The typographic world map is a portrayal of the fact that design has took the world by storm. Like an uncontrollable unstoppable force. In every country, in every state and province, every street and house there is design and there is Typography. From the small scale country of Turkey compared to the enormous giant named Russia.

Truman Show Poster

Sign
The sign is the Truman Show poster. The collection of miniature images to make different, a larger scale one.

Signifier
The Signifier in this post is quite complex. Carrey as Truman Burbank fills the poster in a brilliant close-up with the bright blue sky and the clouds behind him, looking up at the sky with a big enlightening smile on his face. Like a hero. At a first glance it just looks like a slightly pixelated image of Jim Carrey but after a closer examination you realise what is actually involved in the image. The poster, the image of Carrey is made up by hundreds of screenshots from the film itself. Varying from when the character of Truman was a child right up to his older years.

Signified
The image of Carrey in a god-like depiction represents his life. His eventful, happy life. Or maybe it represents life in general? The image could be quite moving to some people. To see all of these events in the characters life happening all at once to define life in all of its wonder and beauty makes a incredibly effective poster and you get the feel just by looking at this poster that it is going to be a deep film, a feel-good film and a moving film. And what's more is that we will see a whole life play out on screen, one scene at at time. Or in this case, on screenshot at a time.

Se7en Posters

Sign:
The Se7en movie poster left).

Signifier:
The signifier in this poster is the number '7' made out of snap shots from the film. The snapshots are low saturation in some, others have a sort of depressing and deathly nature. The tagline "Let he who is without sin try to survive" is also part of the signifier. Behind the '7' is a sickly orange/brown, grungy scratched out background which looks like an old, decaying wall.

Signified:
From the vibe these photos give off with the brutal nature and the low saturation it is indicated that the film itself is a dark, grungy and intense story. The masking tape over the sides of these photos gives then impression that the poster has been created by hand and as if the '7' has a deeper meaning to it and with the central characters and the victims of the killer in the story are the ones who make up the composition of the '7' you feel as if they're all connected and that they are apart of this meaningful number. The '7' is planted over the top of a grungy background where you can see the scratches in the walls and the dirt in the corners. It's as if the victims suffered in the making of the '7' and what's more is that they're the ones who make it which give the concept of the poster a whole deeper meaning.

Pivot Boutique: Make a Fashion Statement

Semiotics

What is Semiotics?

Semiotics is the science of communication and sign systems, in short, of the ways people understand phenomena and organize them mentally, and of the ways in which they devise means for transmitting that understanding and for sharing it with others. Although natural and artificial languages are therefore central to semiotics, its field covers all non-verbal signalling and extends to domains whose communicative dimension is perceived only unconsciously or subliminally. Knowledge, meaning, intention and action are thus fundamental concepts in the semiotic investigation of phenomena.


Signifier:
The signifier is the image itself, like a joke without the punch-line. It is what makes the sign and what attracts the audience of the viewer of the sign. Whilst the Signifier might seem like it has nothing in common with the signified, the two are connected and to have one you need the other. Although Signifiers (unlike signified) aren't confined to words it cannot not have self-representation because frankly it is just a word, an image, a meaningless form etc.


Signified:
The signified gives interpretation and even meaning to the signifier. If you have a Signifier on it's own it doesn't have any complex meaning or it's difficult or maybe even impossible to understand or interpret. For example, if you have a brutal image of a soldier fighting in Iraq, the Signifier would be the image of the soldier himself. It may be the thing that moves or even inspires the viewer but the Signified is what represents this image... In the image the Signified would be "The heroic, young, fearless leader fights for survival in the dilapidated hellhole. The difference between the Signifier and the Signified is that the Signifier never changes for anyone. The difference is that the Signified variates with different people because it is based on opinions, thoughts and emotions. With a certain image it will affect or move or shock or scare a lot of people in a lot of different ways because of the way that person interprets it.


Sign:
A sign is the result of the combination of the Signifier and the Signified. They call the relationship between the two 'Signification'. To make a sign you must have the both the Signifier and the Signified, the form and the concept combined for completion of a sign.