Aims
What different forms of knowledge can we draw from texts, through visual abstraction?
Precedents / Context
Visual Abstraction as a design research method for text analysis
Exploring the idea of rhythm across different texts
(Sadokierski & Sweetapple, 2014)
Process / methods
- Studio exercise to pull out the key words, adjectives/descriptions, notable repetitions and citations/references through the text.
- Key for each category can be found at the start.
Scans of marked up excerpt of A Cyborg Manifesto (Haraway, 2016/1985)
- Explored inverting this visual technique by blocking out the words that are unnecessary to the overall meaning, such as 'the', 'more', 'and', etc.
- Leaving behind the keywords and essence of the text
- The marker bled through the paper, its flipside showing the visual rhythm without the noise and interference of text
Scan of the same excerpt from A Cyborg Manifesto (Haraway, 2016/1985), using this method
Scan of an excerpt from the short story The Resident, (Machado, 2017) using this method
- Iteration: typeset both texts in the same size and manner, for consistency across word count and size.
- One A4 page each, same method of marking "in-between" words out
The Cyborg Manifesto (Haraway, 2016/1985) left, The Resident (Machado, 2017), right
Reflection on Action
- I knew reading both texts that they are quite different in the use of language, and the density of the writing, and I think this last method illustrates this well.
- One is a non-fiction text, which uses a lot of quite specific language, thus the amount of white space in its abstraction. The other is a fictive short story, which is more casual and narrative focused, showing a more even mix of adjectives and nouns, and conjunctive words.
- It was a surprise to flip the page over, and see that the bleeding of the permanent marker, without the presence of text, was a much clearer representation of the findings.
- That moment, and looking at the second iteration now, conveys the impact of visual abstraction to me very clearly. There is definitely a rhythm that you can observe, especially when comparing with the other text.
Reflection for Action
I think it would be interesting to explore the visual inverse of this method, and flip the negative and positive space as a more direct representation of the texts' content and density. There is also potential in creating different criteria for comparison and analysis. The abstraction method could be very effective and more insightful with an iteration of categories and across different types of texts.
written texts in visual ways. In P. Rodgers, & J. Yee (Ed.), The Routledge Companion to Design Research (1st Ed., pp. 248-260). Routledge.
Texts used:
Haraway, D., (2016). Manifestly Haraway, University of Minnesota Press. (Original work published 1985)
Machado, C. M., (2017). Her Body and Other Parties, Graywolf Press.
Again, excellent insights, and already you can see how clustering a few experiments and talking about how one led to the other can demonstrate a research process happening underneath the design practice. Excellent start!
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