Studio Progress (Week 2)

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The research focuses on the relationship between the diagram’s elements as facts vs interpretation.

Each new iteration will be developed based on the interpretation of the previous one. The iterations will be interpreted by a new person each time, asking the question:

→ How would you interpret this diagram?

Stage 1

20 iterations using interpretations from 19 designers from all over the world (22-28 years old).

Stage 2

20 iterations using interpretations from people that are not designers (other occupations) from all over the world (22-28 years old) using the same diagram as a starting point. Is there any difference?

Reflection and findings

The above iterations act as a collection of interconnected interpretations that use the same medium (diagram). How/why the interpretation changed from the starting point? What are the findings?

Creating all these interconnected iterations that have the same starting point (each one develops according to the interpretation of the previous), but the end is so different, it is really interesting and worth researching. This happens because each viewer connects the elements of the diagram in a different way.

There is a gap between what we see with our eyes and the explanation of what we are seeing. According to John Berger (2008), “The way we see things is affected by what we know or what we believe. We are always looking at the relation between things and ourselves”. The way we understand an image is also connect to our knowledge/lack of knowledge according to its subject. In my case, the medium I am using is the diagram, which is more abstract than a clear image. This abstraction widens, even more, the borders of imagination. This is also a result of the informal structure of the diagrams I create, meaning that there are no regularities in the arrangement of objects in the composition; the elements do not follow straight structure lines (Leborg, 2006, p.22). 

Before concluding to the findings of this experiment, I wanted to investigate if there is a difference in the way designers and people from other disciplines perceive the diagrams. To achieve this, I have repeated the above experiment (same starting point) but this time using interpretations of 22-28 years old viewers that are not designers. After creating 20 iterations/diagrams, it is clear that the viewer’s occupation is not connected to the way one interprets a diagram. There is a very small percentage of peoples’ interpretations that may be affected by their jobs, but this is not the key. Most of the interpretations (both experiments) were really creative. 

Based on the above experiment (both stages), the following findings occurred:
– The elements that the diagrams consist of (shapes, lines, arrows) are simple technical elements that every human is aware of. The magic thing happens when these elements connect together/ coexist. Their simplicity lets the viewer interpret a diagram in any way, comparing it to anything, creating countless interpretations.

– A circle can be a moon, an airplane, a planet, a person, a mirror, a spot, ANYTHING! Similarly, shapes such as squares and ovals have a similar function; they represent an object or a human being. 

– The arrow can be used as an element of sequence, process, destination and transformation (100 Screengrabs project).

– A straight line functions as an element of connection or route, in contrast to the wavy line that shows movement.

→ Overall,
the diagram as a medium of communication can be used as a powerful GCD tool, functioning as a lens of interpretation/storytelling. Although it uses only simple shapes, lines and arrows can express/represent almost everything.

Reference List

Berger, J., (2008) Ways of seeing. UK: Penguin Modern Classics.

‘Interpretation’ (2021) Available at: https://www.dictionary.com/browse/interpretation (Accessed: 30 April 2021).

Leborg, C. (2006) Visual Grammar: A Design Handbook (Visual Design Book for Designers, Book on Visual Communication). New York: Princeton Architectural Press.

Having in mind that each diagram can be interpreted based on the knowledge of each viewer, I was wondering if this interpretation relates to the cultural context/origin of the viewer. Is there a difference between the interpretation received from viewers originated from Western and Eastern countries? Is there a difference in the approach of interpreting the diagrams (linear/non-linear)? During my next experiment, I want to explore people’s (22-28 years old from different countries/continents) interpretations of the same diagram. Analysing the results will help me understand if the way of thinking is connected to the way we perceive a diagram.

Experiment 2

Asking others’ interpretation using only one of the above iterations. Collection of the answers. What are the findings? Do the interpretations vary based on demographic information such as ethnicity? Is there a difference between the interpretation received from viewers originated from Western and Eastern countries? Is there a difference in the approach of interpreting the diagrams (linear/ non-linear thinking)?

Explore the approaches/ types of thinking (linear thinking vs non-linear thinking).

The following diagram is the one I have used for this experiment (created during experiment 1):

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During this experiment, 28 people took part (22-28 years old from all over the world).
These are the interpretations I have received:

Interpretation	Origin	Categorisation	Type of thinking
Memory	France/Japan	concept	non-linear
Orbits	New York (USA)	concept	non-linear
Stopping in each place will lead to different results	China	concept	linear
Life journey of a human (passive vs active)	Greece	concept	non-linear
Eclipse	Cyprus	noun	non-linear
The structure of a light bulb	Cyprus	noun	non-linear
A surfing board (with two users on it)	Greece	noun	non-linear
Yin Yang – Happiness, sadness and balance	Cyprus	concept	non-linear
Energy flow (rotation & circulation)	Russia	concept	linear
The attraction between two planets	Greece	concept	non-linear
The incomplete cycle of life	Greece	concept	non-linear
An eye	United Kingdom	noun	non-linear
A circle, a semicircle, an oval and a line	Cyprus	elements	linear
The door of the universe	Switzerland	concept	non-linear
A watch	United Kingdom	noun	non-linear
A circle within a circle	Greece	elements	linear
A planet, an eye or a basketball	United Kingdom	noun	non-linear
Moon’s stages	Cyprus	concept	linear
One can take a shorter path but with risks.	Pakistan	concept	linear
Entering an orbit when energy is sufficient	China	concept	non-linear
All our actions correspond to one another	Cyprus	concept	non-linear
The earth, the equator and the meridian	Greece	noun	non-linear
Planet’s operation in the universe	China	concept	non-linear
The vulva (female genitals)	Greece	noun	non-linear
A circle within another and two points connected with a current wave	Cyprus	elements	linear
Circles and lines	Cyprus	elements	linear
All things start and end at the same point.	United Kingdom	concept	linear
The Cronus planet (rings)	Cyprus	noun	non-linear

Reflection and findings

Thinking style can be defined as one’s pattern of using mental abilities to manage daily tasks, including perceiving and understanding things. There are two general thinking styles; linear (sequential) and non-linear (holistic). Linear thinking can be described as rational/logical and rule-based and is more common in Western society. This style is influenced by the assumptions of reality, a system composed of various parts which can be analysed separately and added linearly together to form an understood system. A preference for attending to external data and facts; and processing this information through conscious logic and analytic thinking (Groves and Vance, 2015).

On the other hand, non-linear thinking involves the automatic, experiential, and often unconscious processing and learning of information. Contrariwise to the strict and logical structure of linear thinking, this style involves intuition, creativity and imagination attending to internal feelings, impressions, images, and sensations in order to form an understanding (Groves and Vance, 2015).

As types of thinking are highly associated with the way one perceives information, the interpretation of a diagram (in my case, without captions or a specific context) is interconnected with linear or non-linear thinking.

Apart from the type of thinking I have divided the interpretations into three categories; noun, concept, elements. Few of the interpretations I received from the above experiment were straightforward, describing the actual elements of the diagram, while most of them, describe the diagram as a whole (noun or concept), covering a range of different subjects.

After collecting all the above interpretations, I have categorised them into the above two categories of thinking types. What can be clearly seen is that most of them are under the category of non-linear thinking and that the type of thinking is not connected to the country the viewer comes from (Western or Eastern cultures). John Berger’s (2008) point of view that the way we see/approach things is associated with what we know and what we believe is still the dominant one on how viewers interpret my diagrams.

REFERENCE
A significant example of someone else’s creative practice that engages with diagrams and non-linear thinking/ compositional work is the project ‘Diagrams 1994 – ongoing‘ by Ricardo Basbaum.

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In Basbaum’s own words he takes the diagram as a ‘tool for intervention (…) a sort of drawing (or visual poem) that mediates the dynamic flow between words and images – discursive and non-discursive spaces – or literary and plastic spaces’ (Basbaum, 2016).

His way of approaching the diagram as an intervention that intercedes the flow between diagrams and words really changed my approach on how I want to continue working on this project. I would like to focus more on non-linear thinking and compositional work through diagrams:

Ideas:
– Add context to my diagrams and explore a specific topic.
– Use some specific words and create many iterations/diagrams using the same words. How the interpretation of the viewer changed?
– Create a story out of diagrams based on a source. How the viewer interprets a sequence of diagrams?

Reference list

Basbaum, R. (2016) Diagrams, 1994–ongoing. Berlin: Errant Bodies Press. Available at: https://www.errantbodies.org/Basbaum.html (Accessed: 05 May 2021).

Groves, K.S. and Vance, C.M. (2015) ‘Linear and nonlinear thinking: A multidimensional model and measure’, in The Journal of Creative Behavior, 49(2), pp.111-136.