Communication Theory
The Shannon Weaver Mathematical Model
Employed by American Army to refine there communication system, to see where it was specifically breaking down, they were employed to predominantly look at radio and telecommunication.
The model was introduced as an early form to looking into communication.
Although it is for radio and telecommunication the same can applied across to design. The model simplifies and very complicated process both in design and in telecommunication, when applied to its first meaning the radio each point can be associated with:
- Information source - Person Speaking
- Transmitter - Phone/Mouthpiece
- Channel - Phone wire
- Receiver - Phone/Mouthpiece
- Destination - Person listening
We were then asked to discuss how we thought we could relate it to design with the person sat next to us, and we came up with:
- Information source - Brief/Research
- Transmitter - Concepts and the actual design
- Channel - Production
- Receiver - Format and distribution
- Destination - Audience
Other groups ideas of what they thought it was:
- Information source - Designer/ Concept
- Transmitter -The making of the work
- Channel -The delivery/Format
- Receiver - Person looking at the work
- Destination -The understanding of the work
- Information source - Brief/Research
- Transmitter - Actual design
- Channel - The Format
- Receiver -Audience
- Destination -Target Audience
Richard then asked us to think about what problems could occur at each stage, what are the barriers for communication?
- Information source -Bad concept, not enough research
- Transmitter - Not designing correct work for target audience, bad designer
- Channel - Wrong format for target audience
- Receiver - Displayed in wrong place
- Destination -Not understanding the work, Just look at the work because it looks good, no communication, no interest
We then looked at the noise source to see what we could apply this to in terms of design, within a radio signal the noise would be an interference on the line.
Within design it could be a whole host of things, like the ones mentioned before but more detailed and informed. Example:
- Not a correctly written brief
- A distraction
Noise source in terms of each stage
Transmitter
- Designer's style
- Interfering clients
- Weathered design
- Technology
- Incorrect format
- being drowned by other things going on around it
- traffic
- other designers/competition
- people crowd
- Colour blind
- Locations
- Juxtaposition with other ads
- Actual noise
- Other designs taking away from your design
- Gossip
- Popular opinions
- Rival campaigns and products
- Target audience not liking the product
- Being bombarded with information
We then looked at Communication Problems
Level A - Technical Problems
- How accurately can the message be transmitted?
Level B - Semantic Problems
- How precisely is the message conveyed?
Level C - Effectiveness Problems
- How effectively does the received meaning affect behavior?
Level A
- Faulty printer
- Bad designer
- Printing problems
- Not the correct equipment
Level B
- Bad readability and legibility
- Typos
- Language
- Colours
Level C
- Message isn't conveyed
- Bad communication with client
- Rivals
Noise
Noise becomes part of the communication in a Zean, they are made with a extremely small budget, although they are classed as 'noise' they have an aesthetic feature that some people now enjoy to look at because they are not the 'everyday society'.
A more obvious example of noise is culture jamming and graffiti, these show that noise can be creative and interesting
Redundancy vs Entropy
Redundancy is the path with least resistance.
Entropy is a measure of the uncertainty in a random variable, a moment of bleeding out, some resistance.
Redundancy is totally predictable and has to be understandable and have low information. The more that is taken away from this the less redundant it becomes. An example of something that is very redundant is the toilet sign.
Redundancy taps into whats already there and stereotypes.
If someone went for a handshake in the middle of the street you would understand what he was doing and what was about to happen.
If someone went for a handshake with a hand tazer or went to shake from under his leg the meaning of this act is now unclear, entropy differs from the norm and is outside of the ordinary.
Task
At the end of this session we were asked to apply the Shannon-Weaver model to an example of communication.
The example of communication i have used is a danger sign, or caution sign. This sign is shown all over the world if not with the explanation mark but then with the same triangle that represents some sort of cation or danger that people shouldn't be doing. The sign is very redundant because it is very simple and understandable, if it were to be hold more entropy then what is a very serious sign and message could be lost and put a lot of people at danger. The simplicity of the sign means it can be understood easily in all countries the same as the toilet sign i talked about earlier.
- Information source -What is the sign trying to convey, understanding what has to be said
- Transmitter - Actual design putting across the correct message
- Channel - The Format, where its going to be displayed, is it in the correct place can people see it
- Receiver -Audience seeing the sign
- Destination -Audience seeing and understanding what the sign means
Noise
- Information source -
- Transmitter - Not designing correct sign for the danger
- Channel - Wrong type of shape for danger or wrong image
- Receiver - Displayed in wrong place, maybe its being blocked by a tree or there is a load of other signs around that take away from it
- Destination - The audience is confused and so ignores the sign
- How widely is this applicable?
- What are the main communicative functions of redundancy?
- What do we mean by saying the English language is 50% redundant?
(Charles Seife, Decoding the Universe. Penguin, 2007)
This shows that within the English language there is a lot going on the doesn't necessarily need to be there.
No comments:
Post a Comment