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Ecology of graphic design in an urban environment In 1964, at the first ICOGRADA congress in Zurich, a letter was read from Prince Philip of Edinburgh, in which he not only welcomed the new organization uniting graphic designers, but also drew attention to the fact that designers are responsible for changing the environment, and the extent of this responsibility very big. But, you must agree that when we talk about environmental problems, about ecology and its interaction with various production areas, graphic design is not the very first thing that comes to mind. Rather, industrial or environmental design, furniture design, clothing design - in general, everything that is related to the design of the material side of our lives. However, strictly speaking, ecology is the science of human interaction with the environment. And what, if not graphic design, in our information era is the main tool for organizing this interaction? A tool for creating visual communication and shaping the visual environment and culture. What makes up the visual environment? It’s easy to assume that this is all we look at with our eyes. Firstly, this is nature: fields, rivers, mountains, clouds, trees - all this creates harmonious conditions for staying; a person is always comfortable in the natural environment. Here the task of humanity is to protect the visual resources that it provides. Secondly, this is the environment that is created by man himself, i.e. architecture. What is the first thing that comes to mind when we talk about the visual environment of a modern city? When do we hear: Paris, Rome, London? For me, first of all, of course, the well-known buildings, what is considered to be the hallmark of a place. Trevi Fountain, Tower Bridge, Eiffel Tower, where would we be without it? Therefore, when we talk about the deterioration of the visual environment of the city, we mainly mean by this the destruction of architectural monuments or, for example, standard development. Yes, a city is, of course, architecture and it has preserved its spirit for centuries. Against its background and on a historical scale, any graphics looks and is perceived as something even more temporary and momentary than it actually is. But still, the more information, and its quantity is growing rapidly, the more carriers of visual information there are and the stronger their impact on a person. Remember the famous experiment of Christoph Steinbrener and Rainer Dempf, when they covered all the signs on one of the streets of Vienna with yellow film? It clearly showed how much visual information we encounter every day, that graphic noise is becoming a significant environmental problem. Awareness of this problem has led to the fact that in many cities around the world the amount of outdoor advertising is significantly limited at the legislative level. It all started in Sao Paulo, where in 2007, at the initiative of the association of graphic designers, the mayor adopted a clean city law in which outdoor advertising was equated with visual pollution. Today, the use of billboard advertising is completely prohibited there. In just one year, more than 15,000 advertising structures were removed in the city, and most residents liked it. The initiative was supported in cities in Europe, Asia, and North America. A ban on the installation of billboards was adopted in India in the cities of Chennai and Bristol, and in 2014, the authorities of the French city of Grenoble were the first in Europe to ban all commercial street advertising. But despite the fact that graphic pollution is a characteristic phenomenon of modern life, for better or worse, cities have never been graphically sterile. And today, looking at old photographs, we guess the era from signs, posters, tablets. For us, they are no longer just graphic garbage, but an integral part of city life, short-lived, and therefore even more valuable, authentic evidence of ordinary life. Since ancient times, graphic information has played a vital role in organizing urban space. Have you ever thought that the visual environment, for example, of an ancient city is not only different types of architectural structures that we have seen so many times? When Pompeii died after the eruption of Vesuvius in the middle of the 1st century, the ash of the volcano acted as a preservative. Therefore, today we have the opportunity to learn a lot about the life and culture of the ancient Romans. For example, see with your own eyes what the writing materials of a resident of an ancient city looked like: a wax tablet, an inkwell, a parchment scroll. In addition to household items and frescoes, a large number of inscriptions and drawings, written and scratched directly on the walls of houses, have been preserved under the ashes of Vesuvius. Looking at them, one can assume that the visual environment of the ancient city is not only architecture, but also graphics - countless graffiti covering its walls. On the walls of their city, residents left greetings and wishes, entered into dialogues, and discussed ongoing events. Advertising texts and political appeals, announcements of events and various news have been preserved. People shared fragments of literary works and short aphorisms and got to know each other. However, the abundance of graphics on the walls led to the need to organize the visual environment. And albums became such a tool - areas whitewashed with white paint on city walls, which were specifically intended for writing information. There were even special people assigned to such walls, who, if there was no free space on it, would re-cover it with white paint so that they could again write, as they say, from a clean slate. This is an interesting fact, a kind of first steps towards streamlining graphic urban culture. That is, the need to curb the chaotic graphic process was realized almost 2000 years ago. When we talk about the graphic culture of the urban environment and the problems of the ecology of visual space, then, first of all, we are usually talking about outdoor advertising. This seems fair, because it is everywhere, and fighting it becomes an important task for many. In different countries, studies and experiments are being conducted to determine the acceptable concentration of advertising media per unit area. For example, last year a group of scientists conducted a whole study of visual pollution from outdoor advertising on one of the busy streets of Lublin and proposed a method for assessing its level. The method is based on an analysis of the spatial properties of objects (i.e. their location, size, visibility range), carried out using special geodetic equipment, and on-site public opinion polls, which together make it possible to determine the permissible level of visual pollution. Simply put, understand how people feel in a particular place, and how this relates to the concentration of advertising media around them. There are more and more similar studies every year, from which it is obvious that outdoor advertising plays one of the key roles in the organization of urban space. How did we come to the point that it became a real environmental problem? As a digression, I will say that in general I consider discussing the role of advertising in our lives a thankless task, because there will probably never be a consensus here. Some people believe that without signs, posters, and billboards, urban space looks hostile to people and resembles cyberpunk films. And some say that a city free of advertising is original and self-sufficient (D. Berman. “How designers can change the world”). The truth, as usual, is somewhere in the middle. However, it is obvious that it was the development of outdoor advertising, the improvement of methods and methods of its distribution that led to the fact that the graphic space of modern cities has become such a significant factor influencing a person’s well-being and sense of self. No other type of graphic product has such an impact. The history of changes in the visual environment of the city once again shows that all processes of social life, the development of art and culture, scientific and geographical discoveries and achievements are interconnected, influence each other and the way the world around us appears. It is obvious that during the Middle Ages, and during the Renaissance, and in modern times, there were various elements of outdoor advertising: signs, posters. But for the time being, all these objects, for various reasons, did not have a significant impact on the visual environment and were organically integrated into it. The real boom in graphic images and a significant change in the visual environment is associated, of course, with the industrial revolution. Why? Firstly, the amount of information has increased, and the media have begun to actively develop. Secondly, the development of trade and market relations and the competitive environment spurred the demand for advertising. Thirdly, what seems especially interesting to me is that technological changes have made it possible to realize urgent needs. For example, the invention of lithography, a simple and affordable way to print posters, had a huge impact on changing the appearance of the city. In fact, lithography (stone engraving) gave impetus to the development of this genre of graphic design. The simplicity and convenience of this type of printing, compared to traditional types of engraving: etching and woodcut, which required a lot of time and labor, lithography was convenient and easy to use. Lithography was invented at the very end of the 18th century, and by the middle of the 19th century it turned out to be the most popular printing method for outdoor advertising, the rapid increase in the media of which gave rise to such a definition as “poster boom” or even more sonorous – “skin disease”. Its validity seems quite obvious when you look at this famous work by Orlando Perry: This image is interesting not only from the point of view of the general idea of the visual appearance of London in the first quarter of the 19th century, but also from the point of view of the history of the font, since it represents widely used typefaces available to display printers of this time, which are also interesting in this context illustrations from Punch magazine, a popular satirical magazine of the mid-19th century. With the development of advertising, new “non-standard” media, sandwich people, the so-called Gulliver’s boots - equestrian advertising structures, were not long in coming. And even such unusual inventions as luminous hats, in which specially hired people had to walk around at night and advertise all kinds of entertainment venues and restaurants. The design of such a hat, including a soft headrest and special flaps to hold the lantern, was even patented. They even aimed advertising at the sky, intending to use spotlights to project advertising slogans onto the dark clouds. But attempts to streamline the spontaneous process were also not long in coming. In the second half of the 19th century, first in Germany, then in France, poster stands appeared, which were rented out for advertising purposes. They acted as a kind of point of visual attraction in the urban environment and became one of the historical steps towards the organization of urban visual space. If we look at the process of formation of the ecology of graphic space from a historical perspective, it seems to me that it has a cyclical or even, more precisely, spiral nature. What I mean? Since ancient times, humanity has been coming up with more and more new ways to demonstrate its goods and services to a wide audience; advertising media are becoming more and more numerous, and their visual impact is becoming stronger. New methods and forms of advertising and graphic activity are emerging - ambient advertising alone is worth it. It attracts attention - with color, images, unusual approach, involuntarily attracts not only the eye, but also involves the person himself in communication. At the same time, throughout the history of mankind, with the development of advertising, various ways of regulating the advertising process and limiting its impact on society have appeared. Graffiti filled the walls of ancient cities - albums were invented, the dominance of posters and billboards - poster stands, countless signs began to distort the proportions and architectonics of buildings - architects began to provide for their presence already at the design stage, and so on. Not to mention all sorts of laws and regulations governing the subject matter of advertising messages and the nature of their distribution. At the same time, no matter how we feel about outdoor advertising, its influence (by the way, not necessarily negative) on the surrounding space is, perhaps, even too obvious. It's so obvious that we hardly notice it. I remember how at school they told us that if there is some constant sound stimulus nearby, for example, a loud ticking clock, then eventually you adapt to this sound and stop hearing it. But if you fall asleep next to such a clock, and it suddenly stops, then there is a high probability of waking up. Not from the sound, but from the sudden silence. It’s the same with visual noise: we often don’t notice it in everyday life, but when contrasted with graphic silence, its power becomes obvious. We can feel this silence, for example, thanks to the Brazilian photographer Tony de Marco, who documented the implementation of the “Clean City Law” in Sao Paulo and showed the process of clearing the city of advertising media. These phantoms of outdoor advertising - unexpectedly empty billboards and stains from removed billboards on the walls of houses - very clearly show the role of advertising media in the formation of the graphic environment. Even more obvious than their real presence. But looking at such projects, it becomes obvious that we approach the problem of the ecology of visual communications in the city mainly from a quantitative point of view: how many advertising media can be used per unit area so that a person feels comfortable in the environment. It seems to me that a review of this topic would be incomplete if we did not touch upon the qualitative aspect in at least a few words. I'll start from a little distance. It's no secret that over the past few decades the visual environment has become increasingly complex. Natural spaces that are harmonious for our visual perception are increasingly being replaced by the rhythms and graphics of the urban environment, the formation of which is based on automation, technocratization and information technology. Researchers note that throughout almost the entire history of its existence, man lived in conditions of physiological visual comfort. This means that there were forests, fields, rivers and clouds around it, and if it was a city, then it was not at all like today - built up with standard high-rise buildings, but varied in its architectural forms and decor. But with the advent of automated technologies, the situation has changed radically. There are more and more monotonous rhythms and unnaturally smooth surfaces, creating significant visual tension. But here’s what’s interesting: both the author himself and his followers mainly apply the results obtained to the field of architecture. It seems to be understandable: architectural ensembles are very significant for visual perception, both in terms of size and in terms of durability - if they are built, then you can be sure that it will last for a long time. Can the same approach be applied to graphic design objects? How justified is it in the matter of creating a graphical environment? In this regard, op art, of course, comes to mind. And not so much because op art artists created their works based on visual illusions, but because the aesthetics of op art found wide application in design, which quickly assimilated its techniques: wallpaper, interiors, fashion using optical illusions became almost signature card from the 60s. And even today they are widespread and in demand. Graphic design is also not left out. Logos using all kinds of optical illusions are firmly in fashion. As well as posters, covers, playbills and even environmental objects. Indeed, graphic illusions are very aesthetic, you can’t take that away from them. They are intelligent - they represent a kind of visual puzzle. But are they environmentally friendly? We look at these works and see actually aggressive visual fields. And the question arises: can we evaluate works of graphic design from the point of view of visual ecology? By what criteria can a graphical environment be considered environmentally friendly or not? And in general, does it make sense to evaluate it from this point of view? Visual ecologists are quite categorical in their judgments. According to them, “mental illnesses have recently increased in all major cities. And this growth continues. Experts have called this disease “big city syndrome,” which often manifests itself in a person’s aggressiveness. Among many factors, in our opinion, the unnatural visual environment contributes to the increase in mental illness.” However, rhythm is the basis of graphic design. Is it possible to simply write off all media based on rhythmic graphic repetitions as harmful and aggressive? What to do with such internationally recognized projects as the corporate identity of the Olympics in Mexico, in the end? I think it is very important here to consider, firstly, the purpose of the graphic information carrier. Will it be a temporarily hung image poster for a specific event: bright, eye-catching, memorable? Or, on the contrary, an informational poster, designed to clearly convey important information and, for example, hang in a room or office where people work all day. In some cases, aggressive fields are generally necessary. When, for example, the task is to draw attention to some environmental object. Secondly - size. Whether it is a ticket, a leaflet or super graphics on the wall of a house, the effect will obviously be different. Thirdly, the environmental context: whether, for example, the sign enhances the already aggressive visual environment. And here the question arises: what is our visual perception? Is it limited only to what our eyes see? Perhaps this concerns architecture to a lesser extent, since it is placed in a certain environment and, with more or less success, exists in it for years. And even then: perspective, range of contemplation, lighting, and simply our emotional state at the moment of observation - all this is of great importance for perception. With graphic design, everything turns out to be even more complicated; in addition to everything listed, the information factor also comes into play. Can we separate what we look at from what we know about it? Can we separate graphic expression from design goals and objectives? And is it worth assessing them separately? Be that as it may, these questions remain open: there are no standards yet that would allow one to control the level of qualitative impact of the graphic environment on a person, and criteria for its evaluation have not been developed. Meanwhile, I think that in the near future this aspect must be taken into account in order to make the city space cleaner, more understandable, and finally, environmentally friendly. | |
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