Wednesday 2 September 2015

1,427 cars were lifted from the bottom of North Sea

Car carrier Baltic Ace collided with container ship Corvus J on 5 December 2012. Luckily, despite major damages Corvus J had survided and got to the port without any assitance, but less luck got Baltic Ace. She sunk in only about 15 minutes with cars on board.

The accident happened around 72 km from the coast of the Netherlands in one of the busiest sail routes of the North Hinder Junction. The weather was quite normal, the route is well-known but still they collided.

The rescue team saved 13 crewmembers from the floating raft near the wreckage. However, 11 more seamen were reported dead. The chances to find them alive were virtually zero already 12 hours after the accident because of freezing waters of the North Sea.  

Baltic ace was caring brand new cars from Zeebruge port in Belgium to Kotka, Finland. Brand new Mitsubise’s and other luxurious cars mainly aimed were for Russian market. All these nice cars you can see below. 

For two years 148m long ship lied down in the sea causing the danger for the other ships by being just 6m below the sea level. Boskalis and Mammoet Salvage sucked 500 tones of fuel, split the ship in 6 parts and salvage the wreck in over the period of 18 months. I found these parts now laying in port of Rotterdam. I found the scene just terrific. My breath was on hold all the time I pressed shutter button on my camera.










Tuesday 10 June 2014

Semiotics

Semiotics is the study of signs, symbols and signification. In everyday life our eyes spotting different signs and symbols everywhere and our brain decode them into a meaning. Some of them are road signs which help us to reach a destination point safely and in the fastest way and some are more complex. In everyday life there are more signs than roads have about these signs semiotics or also known as semiology is about.

In movies semiotics is often viewed through weather, where it plays important role and helps a viewer to get into the mood of the one particular scene. When it rains no one is expecting that something good is going to happen, on contrary viewer is aware of something bad, funerals are commonly accompanied with rain. Another trouble making sign is when a candle is snuffed off. When film makers are trying to show importance of the character they light him or her with a glow of light.

Semiotics is largely used in advertising unhealthy food such as mayonnaise which is high in cholesterol is viewed among healthy vegetables to discard knowledge of the unhealthiness. Another trick which is used in commercials is show things which represent class. In luxurious car ad you are not going to see a persons dressed in sweat pants with grocery bad, instead (s)he is dressed in suit and carries a briefcase with documents. Another class example is in alcohol beverages. Whiskey advertisements are often surrounded with suited men and dressed women having a good time.

Signs are everywhere and everyone is interpreting them differently. To understand the meaning of a sign our brain completes three steps:
1. Receives the sign
2. Connects it with real object




3. Brain understand the meaning of it  
Small and furry home pet, apparently with sharp clutches


Monday 9 June 2014

Gestalt

Gestalt

Our mind has a natural and instinctual intuition about form and structure, and it always strives to find the simplest solutions. The faster we understand the relation between visual elements the faster we’ll understand the message. To help our cognitive processes we can use different laws of gestalt to help the eye and brain make connections quicker and to understand relations between different objects and groups better. Gestalt theory has an approach to the total image. Gestalt laws describe how we tend to organize visual elements into unified wholes. Knowledge about these principles helps us in building a unity in visual language. It’s an aid for both the designer and the user.

Examples of laws of gestalt:
Law of prägnanz – In reality we always try to organize or reduce shapes into the simplest form possible, we here see three tilted lines together in triangle, rather than many much more complicated shapes.


Similarity – Items that share the same attributes, for example shape or colour, tends to be grouped together. The adidas logo tend to us organize tilted lines into one shape.
Law of closure – We tend to ignore gaps and complete the shape with invisible lines to create familiar shapes. Logo of ‘le coq sportif’ the rooster is bulged over triangle, nevertheless our mind ignores that and closes triangle

Proximity - uses the close arrangement of elements to create a group association between those objects. If individual elements are also similar, they will tend to be perceived as a single whole, even though they are separate elements. In Unilever logo different symbols are used to represent letter U.


Continuation - Continuation is the principle through which the eye is drawn along a path, line or curve, preferring to see a single continuous figure than separate lines. This can be used to point towards another element in the composition, and is seen where a line is cut through one object, often in a curve, aligning perfectly with a secondary element.

What is Visual Knowledge Building?

Visual Knowledge Building is the process of digesting and creating visual information from different angles. Human mind receives seventy five percent of information from what their eyes see it is the reason why memes became popular today. Meme is an idea to spread cultural experiences virally through internet, often it is socially recognizable image with short and often sarcastic text on it.

Meme above shows how ‘selfies’ are so popular by showing screenshot from Toys Story movie where Woody and Buzz Lightyear are standing next to each other, where Buzzs’ hand is pointing to the whole world and there is some excitement on his face, in meantime Woody’s emotions  shows a great concern. Images help us to send more consistent message and it is no secret. However, it is not a point of Visual Knowledge Building.

Visual Knowledge Building teaches us that there is more than one answer in each question. This may sound quite philosophically. But let’s look on this picture :



VW decided to use famous Abbey Road where group Beatles where pictured as promotion of their Beetle car. It is quite symbolic and smart. However, talking exclusively about me car Beetle is a symbol of a bug and I hope for some it is that symbol as well. From one side it is words pronunciation play Beatles and Beetles and from the other this poster leaves some uncertainty in the message: why they used VW bug on Abbey Road. Visual Knowledge Building encourages that every answer could be correct one. 


But what is a knowledge?

There is no one common definition of Knowledge, but variously it can be defined as, “Things that are held to be true in a given context and drive us to action if there is no impediment”. In other words it can be defined as, justified true belief that increases existing capacity for effective action.  To translate all this in common words Knowledge is an understanding of an issue which leads us to resolvement of another issue.

Theory distinguish that there are three types of knowledge:

Physical being a present in a certain environment. We need ample time to explore this world. No one can do that for us. It lays the foundation for later. A simple example of this knowledge can be ‘sunglasses’. One of the first sunglasses where made in China and it were not supposed to block sun. Chinese judges wore smoke-colored quartz lenses to hide their eye expression in court in thirteen century. Eskimos used google with little slits to prevent snow blinding.


Social – comes from outside. This knowledge must be told, taught or transmitted from the culture to the child through person-to-person, it will be learned more effectively if it is meaningful and seen as useful to the learner.



Logical-Mathematical – is developed and constructed within the mind of the learner. It consists of relationship between objects constructed by each individual. VW beetle poster.

Previously Knowledge workers distinguished three common theories: behaviorism, cognitivism and constructivism.

Behaviorism states that learning is largely unknowable and we cannot possibly understand what goes in human mind. Theory discusses that reality is external and is objective, and knowledge is gained through experiences. The theory makes three assumptions:  
  1. Observable behavior is more important that understanding internal activities, 
  2. Behavior should be focused on simple elements: specific provocation and responses 
  3. Learning is about behavior change.


In cognitivism theory learning is viewed as a process of inputs, directed in short term memory, and transformed for long term recall. In cognitive theories, learning is viewed as symbolic mental constructs in the learner’s mind, and the learning process is the means by which these symbolic representations are committed to memory.             

Constructivism suggests that learners create knowledge as they attempt to understand their experiences and learners are not empty vessels to be filled with knowledge. Instead, learners are constantly attempting to create meaning.

Central point of these theories is that learning occurs inside of the person. These theories do not address learning that occurs outside of people. In growing era of technology every manner information that we acquire is worth of exploring. In today’s environment, action is often needed without personal learning, that is, we need to act by drawing information outside of our primary knowledge.
Naturally, theorist tried to improve and revise theories as conditions change, however, rapid increase of information have altered so significantly, that further modification is no longer sensible and entirely new approach is needed. George Siemens and Stephen Downes introduced new theory of connectivism.

Connectivism is characterized as a reflection of our society that is changing rapidly, complex, connected socially, global, and mediated by increasing advancements in technology. Theory describes that to be connected to the outside knowledge is more important than existing state of knowing. In other words idea is that pipe is more important than content within the pipe. George Siemens describes connectivism as “Amplification of learning, knowledge, and understanding through the extension of personal network”. Only through personal networks a learner can acquire the viewpoint and diversity of opinion to learn to make critical decisions. Connectivism can be defined as actionable knowledge, where an understanding of where to find knowledge may be more important than answering how or what that knowledge encompasses.

After stepping out from learning theories of behaviorism, cognitivism and constructivism into connectivism we are getting acknowledged with ability to plug into sources to meet the requirements using personal network.




Monday 26 May 2014

What your car says about you?

Many believe that car is no more a luxurious 'toy' but a tool which makes our life more efficient. That car has become source of our efficiency in day-to-day life in relocating us from point A to point B faster than public transport does and does this more in private where we can concentrate on our thoughts. Today people buy cars according to their budget and life-style.

Monday 12 May 2014

Cultural Capital of Europe aka My Home Town


Every city has its own way of living. Often this way of living is defined by a city’s architecture. Think about Paris, I bet one of the first things which going to come to your mind is romance, romantic and whichever word root is ROMAN.

Sunday 11 May 2014

Real thing starts from Step THREE or Creating Design Context

Here is the deal, guys, last term I failed course of Visual Communication Building therefore this blog is still alive and it is going to be filled with more proper content in more proper way. I want you to think about this post as new introduction to the blog.

It’s going to be way darker this time. First, because I need to follow course reader and following the rules never was my thing, I need to be honest with you here. Second, it’s going to be filled with stereotypes, some ‘interesting’ cultural symbols and I cannot forget about all theory which received during the lectures, all this I need to discuss and explain to you.