Dora the Explorer

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

To get the course started, we were sent away to explore the world around us. To think and observe the world in a way different to how we are use to, and look out for patterns, themes, colours, texts etc that caught our eye. Recorded below is some of the items, themes etc that caught my eye.

"Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being...Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of apple".

Transformed the digital age of life changing technology and software.

I then decided to record my observations of the car journey from my house to Uni. What struck me the most during the journeys was the traffic signs and the symbolic meaning behind them. The simplicity of pictogram's used in road signs inspires me. I find it amazing how, although, as a society we take them for granted and barely register them into our thought process, their importance and value is high. Pictogram's are so simple yet have created a worldwide code/ language, which when we think about it, is truly inspiring.

I went on to develop my idea of pictogram's used in car signs to look for pictogram's used for humour in public places, on the web etc. Below are a few examples that caught my eye;

What I realised when I was investigating into road signs and the use of pictogram's in commercial and public places is that pictogram's are often used to convey basic messages and almost always without any sense of expression. I started to think that this is most likely a reason for why we often notice road signs but never fully take them in. As there are often no expressions to take in, our mind seems to just register the basic meaning, function and then forget.

What I like about adding humour into pictogram's is that it gives the designer an opportunity to add a sense of life, to basic black shapes and negative spaces. Such subtle humour is something I love and I feel by incorporating humour into a pictogram can result in a wonderful thing.