The Communicative Functions of Colour

Colours are very powerful and can reduce or raise stress levels,’ believes Lilian Verner-Bonds, author of Colour Healing (pg.229). 

 When approaching the tools and techniques put into practice regarding colour, we distinguish two types of affordance in colour, two sources for making meaning with colour.  First there is association, or provenance – the question of ‘where the colour comes from’, ‘where we have seen it before’.(van Leeuwen, pg.232-233).  This is evident in advertising or the entertainment media.  The second type of affordance is that of the ‘distinctive features’ of colour.  Here we want to show some aspects of the affordances of the materiality of colour, and hence make a connection, not with the ‘grammar’, but with phonetics and phonology (van Leeuwen, pg. 233).

Some of the Key Features of Color could by applied to Green’s approach to literacy as below:

Operational

Value- The scale of value is the grey scale, the scale from maximally light (white) to maximally dark (black).

Saturation- This is the scale from the most intensely saturated or ‘pure’ manifestations of a colour to its softest, most ‘pale’ or ‘pastel’, or dull and dark manifestations, and, ultimately, to complete desaturation, to black and white.

Cultural

Purity- this is the scale that runs from maximum ‘purity’ to maximum ‘hybridity’, and it has been at the heart of colour theory as it developed over the last few centuries.  Colours with commonly used single names, such as brown and green, would be considered pure.  The names of other colours, like cyan, are mainly used by specialists, and non-specialists would refer to them by means of a composite name, for instance, blue-green.

Modulation- this is the scale that runs from fully modulated colour (for example, from a blue that is richly textured with different tints and shades, as in paintings by Cezanne) to flat colour, (as in comic strips, or paintings by Matisse).

Critical

Differentiation- is the scale that runs from monochrome to the use of a maximally varied palette, and its very diversity or exuberance is one of its key semiotic affordances, as is the restraint involved in its opposite, lack of differentiation.

Hue- this is the scale from blue to red.  In a distinctive feature theory of colour it becomes only one of the factors constituting the complex and composite meanings of colour, and maybe not even the most important one.

(van Leeuwen, pgs.233-235)

I am so interested in this topic as it is a major part of my professional career in fashion.  Color can influence the ambiance and consumer behavior of a retail store.  For example blue is a color that is attractive to the majority of people, including both genders and all age groups, so it is a good choice for many retailers. Adding some red or blue to the color scheme will add energy to the blue.  Yellow is a happy and playful color but it can create anxiety.  Red should be used in small doses in retail businesses. It can cause aggression and anger if used in large amounts so it’s wise to use it as an accent color to add energy, passion and excitement.

Also check out....http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/223799

References:

Kress, Gunther & van Leeuwen, Theo (2006). Reading Images: The Grammar of Visual Design. New York: Routledge.

Deconstructing a Print Advertisement

Coming from the fashion industry, I look at ads on many days.  During this assignment I tried to analyze from a different point of view.  The ad I chose was from the Celine fashion house, Spring 15.  Celine which is known as a trend setting ready-to-wear and leather goods luxury brand took a risk by featuring Joan Didion, 80-year old well known author in their Spring 15 campaign.  There were two main points I took away when using Marshall McLuhan’s theories. 

Hot and Cool media- specifically looking at what would be considered cool tends to keep an audience involved, deeply participated and engaged.  This ad definitely creates that interests by highlighting a very cool octogenarian who appears to be very fashionable and chic.

The medium is the message- now while there isn’t any content listed in the ad, the picture alone communicates such a strong powerful message for women and pro-aging.  This can give older women the freedom to dress up again and feel good about themselves.

photo: www.vogue.com

Weblogs and the Public Sphere....

According to Andrew O’Baoill, he assess the potential impact of weblogs on the public sphere, using a model based on the work of Jürgen Habermas to provide an ideal against which we can measure the efficacy of weblogs as a public space. 

Specifically including inclusivity of access, a disregard for external rank, and the potential for rational debate of any topic until consensus is achieved are necessary criteria for meeting Habermas's model of an idealized public sphere.

Inclusivity

Those promoting the weblog are proud of the fact that it is so easy to use, with a typical claim being that "anyone who can e-mail or buy online can blog" (Crowley, 2003).

Rank

Talking about outside rank-the reputation that a contributor builds within a public sphere can be properly taken into account, as it contributes to the warrant that a person is seen to issue with each speech act. (O'Baoill)

Rational Debate of Any Topic Until Consensus Is Achieved

The worry is that in the constant desire for new data-be it new sources to which to link or the constant need for anecdotes and entertaining memes-blogging provides a distraction, but little true insight or productive results. (O'Baoill)

Inclusivity and Rank are two necessary criteria I understand that are needed in weblogs and the public sphere.  Inclusivity basically states all are welcome as long as you can email or purchase items on line creating an inclusive environment.  The best example to use for rank includes the way Google works.  The most popular or most clicked on  key works/pages will be pushed to the top.  I’m still a little fuzzy on the rational debate of any topic until consensus is achieved.  I understand consensus as a general agreement shared by a group but how it relates to this topic I’m not sure.

References:

O'Baoill, Andrew, Weblogs and the Public Sphere, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Conceptual Representations...

While looking at Chapter two, we learn visual structures can either be narrative or conceptual.  Chapter three digs deeper into the conceptual category.  We start with classificational processes.  Classificational processes relate participants to each other in terms of a ‘kind of’ relaxation, a taxonomy: at least one set of participants will play the role of Subordinates with respect to at least one other participant, the Superordinate (p.79).

When looking at the processes in a breakdown similar to Green’s model, some issues that could occur would include:

Unstructured analytical processes- parts may be shown but the way the parts fit together to make a whole are not explained.

Temporal analytical processes- a set of participants is ordered linearly on a timeline and interpreted as the set of successive stages of a temporally unfolding process.

Exhaustive and inclusive analytical processes- a participant is depicted as made up of a number of parts and the structure is interpreted as showing all the parts from which the whole is made up.

Conjoined and compound exhaustive structures- possessive attributes are either connected, by a line lacking a feature of directionality, or disengaged by a layout of the Possessive Attributes which separates them, yet clearly shows how they fit together.

Topographical and topological processes- they are read as accurately representing the physical spatial relations and the relative location of the Possessive Attributes.

Dimensional and quantitative topography- scale based on the quantity or frequency of aggregates of participants that are taken to be identical.

Spatio-temporal analytical structures- two-dimensional charts create a conjunction between a set of such analytical structures and a timeline, for the sake of comparative analysis along an ordered timescale.

Since most important issues associated with new technologies and their associated practices and literacies are largely "hidden".  It makes sense for Green to use a visual model to represent his ideas of the three dimensions of literacy.  Taxonomies and flowcharts clearly provide two different kinds of knowledge.  The one represents the world in terms of a hierarchical order.  Its main concern is the ranking of phenomena from the perspective of a single unifying term, be it that of the origin of things, the most generalizing generalization, or that of the highest power.  The other describes the world in terms of an actively pursued process with a clear beginning and an end (p.84).

The Jenkins video was pretty interesting and I think I've started to visually structure Jenkins “New Digital Literacies” in my classroom with blogs and smart phone use.  I’ve created a five week blog project that students will respond to a specific topic.  The smart phone use comes into play with an activity I present at the end of class called “One last word”.  I read a fashion related quote to the class and direct the students to search the author of the quote and what their interpretation is.  

If I remember correctly, I believe the only time I laid out information in a relational conceptual representation to clarify meaning was with colleagues and understanding what role and responsibility everyone had.

References:

Jenkins, Henry. "TEDxNYED - Henry Jenkins - 03/06/10." Online video clip. Youtube. Uploaded on April 13th, 2010. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFCLKa0XRlw. January 29th, 2015.

Kress, Gunther & van Leeuwen, Theo (2006). Reading Images: The Grammar of Visual Design. New York: Routledge.

The Approach to Literacy

Week 1 Assignment

"The distinctive contribution of the approach to literacy as social practice lies in the ways in which it involves careful and sensitive attention to what people do with texts, how they make sense of them and use them to further their own purposes in their own learning lives" (Gillen and Barton, 2010, p. 9). 

After reading this statement a few times I was a little confused I decided to first take a look at the term literacy.  Literacy, the term's meaning has been expanded to include the ability to use language, numbers, images and other means to understand and use the dominant symbol systems of a culture.^[ (UNESCO. "Education for All: A Global Monitoring Report". UNESCO. UNESCO. p. 150).

When thinking about what people do with texts and how they make sense of them, I thought specifically about the environment I teach in.  Teaching college students, you really get a different take on literacy as opposed to kindergartners or even baby boomers.  For example, there are two key concepts in literary studies that exhibit this in my environment. 1) There can be different literacies in different domains of life.   I witness this often working with college students.  For example, at times my students may use an abbreviation or “text message” language when writing a paper for class.  2) Institutions are important in shaping, sponsoring and supporting people’s practices.  I find it beneficial to assign an array of assignments to students where they can exhibit their many different types of literacy practices.  I create assignments where the students create a blog, social media pages, and a term paper.  With that we’re able to discuss and decide when and where to use each practice.  Taken together, these concepts provide a powerful language of description for investigating digital literacies, applicable to all participants whether adopting the role of student or teacher in education or learner in one’s professional and/or everyday life (Gillen and Barton, 2010, p. 9).