Graphics Essay U6

‘How does the isolation of a person in graphic design display emptiness in terms of emotion’ As graphic design has innovated and developed throughout the years, it has also become a lot easier to create powerful pieces and edit them from photos with the likes of Photoshop and other software.

Likewise, it has now allowed artists to create more effective pieces using new technology and for them to portray their emotions more efficiently using editing tools to manipulate pictures. Showing emotions in graphics can separate a good piece from a great piece as with emotions you can really interest the viewer but a graphic design without a meaning or emotion to it can often bore viewers and make it seem pointless. In many circumstances that I have found, graphic designers and photographers use the individuality of one focused person in a piece to display emptiness and sorrow in their designs. The effect an individual in a photo gives in my view is very effective as it lets the viewer know that they are the main point of the photo, also that they are feeling some form of emotion whether that is discouraged or unhappy, otherwise they wouldn't be isolated in the photo and instead with others.

Emptiness can be interpreted in different ways, however emptiness in a graphic design would suggest that there is a sense of isolation and loneliness in the piece that can be created from a variety of ways.

In this essay, I will be showing you how focusing a graphic design on one individual can show emptiness in the form of an emotion. I will also give examples and circumstances of artists who use this technique to create effective pieces and what their intentions were in using it to argue my point. I will also explain how one individual showing emotion effects the audience and how it would differentiate from a piece without a person as a point of interest in it.

There are many different ways in which a graphic designer can show emotion through their pieces with the use of a single person. One of the ways that this can be done through could be by making the individual smaller in the setting of the graphic design. Doing this is effective for displaying emotion as seeing the individual from far away emphasises how isolated he or she is. A great example of an artist that successfully achieves this technique is Dawid Planeta and his series of ‘Mini People’. In his series of graphic design, they all include a small figure, being shown from a faraway angle, staring into the eyes of an intimidating animal that occupies the majority of the screen. One of the better pieces from this album in my opinion is ‘Face of Fear’. In this piece he captures the figures feelings and emotion using the scale and proportion of the embodiments in the picture, that being the person and the rhinoceros. He enlarges the size of the rhino and makes the person little to emphasise the fear and intimidation the larger animal is causing for the figure. Not only does he use the size of the figure to display the emotions and lonesomeness of this piece. But Planeta also uses the black and white theme along with the smoke effects to give the environment in the picture an unsettling, frightening feeling. This also contributes to showing the person’s emotions, as the vast trees and rhino that is dominating much of the photo make the man standing in the light feel even more smaller and helpless. The fact that he stands in the small patch of light could also show that the person is in a foreign environment and he shouldn’t be there hence why he is the main source of light in the piece, this effect makes the figure look fearful and in danger as he stands out from everything else and would let viewers realise that he is the target for both the focus of the picture and for the rhinoceros.

Face of Fear, Dawid Planeta.

Another way of displaying emptiness and loneliness in a piece would be to put someone in a situation where they are in need of help from someone else or are trapped somewhere as this focuses the viewer’s attention to that one individual. A photographer that I’ve researched and found that tackles this field of emotion when it comes to creating lonesome circumstances is Ben Zank. Born in New York City, this man creates surreal images of himself and sometimes others, where he is alone and isolated.

Some of these are in cheerful settings, however most are in depressing and empty settings. These pieces emphasise the theme of confinement and isolation as an emotion where he finds himself in situations that constrict him and portray him as helpless. He quotes,"The images represent an ongoing experience of emotions that I feel, the most recent being isolation and a longing to connect with another human being". Zank understands the settings he creates as he tells us in other quotes how he used to suffer with mental health issues which help him create the empty but emotional pieces that he makes himself using Photoshop.

One of his pieces that I believe really shows emptiness would be the one he titles ‘Untitled’ where the singular, lonesome figure being himself, is trapped underneath the lines of a road that lead into a dark, ambiguous forest. Zank could’ve created this same piece in a populated road in the city, however he took this photo in this particular setting to show how alone and empty he feels. It isn’t possible to be trapped under the paint of the road, yet Zank does this to emphasise metaphorically how trapped he is.

"I either feel full of energy or have no energy at all and feel very depressed. This usually dictates the way an image will look”, he has quoted in an interview and explains to why he creates these pieces that correlate to his depression. As well as putting his scenes into situations of isolation of a single figure, he also infuses low contrasted and dull colours into the backgrounds and clothes of the photos. This is done on purpose to make the outcome of the picture feel unattractive and saddening to the viewer. As a whole, I believe Ben Zank shows emptiness in his groups of photos very well with his own style of doing this and the factors he takes into account when taking and editing the photo. I would say this style of

photography backs my question fully as emotions can be taken away from this piece relating to emptiness using the theme of isolation and a single figure.

‘Emptiness’, Ben Zank.

Additionally, there are other ways you can display emotion using isolation with an individual. Emptiness can be shown by using the environment in the photo to express emotion by creating a setting that relates to the feelings you are trying to portray. This works as the viewer then makes an opinion on the piece considering the atmosphere that surrounds the graphic design. A creative designer that produces pieces using this method would be Daniel Mountford. He creates double exposure pieces from his camera that give a singular person an environment inside of them. The region that is shown inside of these people plays a big part in indicating what that individual is feeling. What I enjoy most about Mountford’s pieces is that he uses an outline of the person, as well as the setting, and then fades them in together to show that they are almost the same. This helps to show how the setting and the person are connected thus giving the viewer a better understanding of the emotions and feelings being characterized. This piece does this very well as it connects the woman’s emotions with a well displayed environment. It uses a dark and ambiguous forest, surrounded by mist to emphasise the loneliness and isolation this woman feels. It also uses the outer space of the person with a very plain and dull background to focus the attention to the setting inside of the woman, as well as to relate the piece to emptiness and separation. As well as this, he also takes out a lot of the colour in the photo as black and white can relate greatly to sadness and lonesomeness. “A photograph is great for linking people and places with memory, I was simply trying to think of another way to portray that visually through the use of people who at the time meant a lot of me or places I lived and grew up in, it was these links that inspired me.” From this quote, we can decipher that Mountford creates his double exposure artwork from his own memories and emotions. He creates these pieces with the ambition of creating something that will show his feelings through the picture. This one in particular I believe shows loneliness as a memory, as the lonely forest and the dull, unexpressive face would suggest. Whereas it would also show emptiness, from the use of the mist in the face, fading into the background of the piece as mist usually connotes with loneliness and isolation.

Double Exposure, Dan Mountford.

However, not all pieces that attempt to display emotion using a single person in their work have the same effect as these examples so far. This photo manipulation created by Alicia Savage includes a cloud covering the figure’s face, hence the name. The idea of having your head in the clouds is to not be focused on what is going on around you and to only be focused on your own thoughts. This effect would imply that she feels lonely and isolated.

The setting that she is in would also show isolation in her emotions as she is secluded in a cold, gloomy field. This example of photo manipulation aims to create a field of emptiness as Savage quotes,” The “Destinations” portfolio is about self-awareness, realizing where my innate interests lie and listening to where that voice inside leads me, even if it initially seems irrational or unexpected.” This shows that she was focused on only her own trail of thoughts and herself which correlates with emptiness. One of the reasons I believe this feeling and emotion was not as well shown in this as it is in the previous photo manipulations is because the selection of colours she uses. Usually, the feeling of emptiness associates with dark, dull and low contrasted colours. Whereas in this piece, Alicia Savage uses vibrant colours in the dress she is wearing, as well as in the setting. This could be to show how she used to feel in contrast with the emotions she now feels however I believe this is hard to interpret and is not shown well. This differs massively compared to Dawid Planeta’s ‘Face of Fear’ where he used greyscale which relates heavily to negative feelings. What I do like about this piece on the other hand, is the use of the cloud to symbolize her emotions and how she has distanced herself from others, with her head being trapped and imprisoned in the cloud.

Head in The Clouds, Alicia Savage.

Below, is my final design for my book cover. Using different inspirations from the researched other artists, I believe my final design has concluded and shows emptiness as an emotion through graphic design through the use of isolating a person. I wanted to use what I had learnt from looking at other designer's work, therefore I used different aspects of the three researched artists in my book cover to create the final piece.

To begin with, I wanted to create Dawid Planeta’s atmosphere of emptiness with the use of a black and white, unsaturated setting. I created this piece in Photoshop which allowed me to change photo settings and control the saturation and hue of the piece. The cover has me sat in a chair with dull clothes, a dull expression and a dull, floral wallpaper background from primary research also. Like Dawid Planeta, I used the ill-coloured effect to my advantage as this helps create a depressing, dark setting. This helps to show emptiness in my graphic design as black and white effects can connotate heavily to desolation and nothingness. His style of work helped me to create this effect in my piece as his achromatic creations from ‘Mini People’ helped to inspire me from their use of dark tones and shadows to add into my piece to add darkness and loneliness into the photo. As well as applying some of Planeta’s technique into my book cover, I also took inspiration from Ben Zank. This graphic designer puts individuals into scenarios where they look trapped or not in control of the situation. Through Photoshop, I was able to create an effect on my own face that creates a constantly moving uncontrollably perception. This outcome creates a trapped, confined atmosphere to the picture, as well as this I made the design itself in a square box to emphasise the restraint in the photo. I believe these effects create emptiness as well as they make the individual in the photo look almost possessed which would create emptiness inside of his head. Lastly, Dan Mountford helped me find a good balance in lighting and colour distribution for the photo. My face in the photo was edited to highlight the fade from dark to very bright to not only give the piece a sense

of variation, but to make my face seem blurrier by highlighting it and contrasting it from the background and clothes. This created emptiness with this effect as viewers focus more on the facial expression in the picture, as well as this the only major lighting in the book cover is my face which makes the photo look lonely and empty as there is only one utmost amount of light surrounded by dark tones.

As well as making just one final design for the book cover, I also made another as a backup idea in case my main piece did not meet the standard that I wanted it to. I used the inspiration of Dawid Planeta in order to create this piece using all primary resourced photos with it. ‘A tale of Vulnerability’ is the title of the book cover as the word vulnerability relates to the semantic field of isolation and being trapped. The setting of the photo like Planeta, uses a dark, ill-coloured forest. This photo began as a bright, snowy forest however I used photoshop to change this and allow the setting to relate more to the theme being depression and emptiness. I also added a spirit-like eye effects to the animal to give the piece a fictional, dream-like setting that could be interpreted as a dream or emotion the smaller figure in the photo is imagining to himself or feeling.

To conclude, this essay has helped me massively in my opinion in being able to show emotion through my photo manipulation. Using some of the pieces I had looked at in this essay, I was able to create my final piece. Using the inspiration of Dawid Planeta, I used greyscale in my final piece to give my work a semantic field of negative emotions that I might be feeling in the photo. As well as this, Ben Zank’s work also gave me the idea to make it seem as if the figure in my piece was trapped. I was able to make this effect that makes me look like I am constantly moving my head through the help of this artist. Although I did not use Dan Mountford’s double exposure technique it was interesting to discover his artwork.

To answer the question that I queried prior to writing this, the use of one singular person in a photo manipulation and graphic design does help to show the emotion of emptiness as I have now discovered.

Isolation allows the viewer to focus their attention directly on the figure in the picture. As the figure is made the center and main looking point of the photo through this use of isolation, it allows viewers to look deeply into his or her body language, facial expression, reaction to their environment or what they are doing. From this, it is then easier for photo manipulators and photographers to convey emotion as the observer is forced into looking at this one being. Doing this leaves the figure showing the emotion of emptiness as there is no meaning for the individual if he or she is on their own. All that is left for the photographer to do is to find a lonesome setting in which the figure is trapped in and emptiness is shown.

Overall, I believe I have shown emptiness well in my own creation as I use the same steps my selected three artists used in their pieces. The figure in my own work displays this emotion I believe using his body language as well as his facial expression. This would’ve been a lot harder to show if there were several figures in the picture as the feeling of emptiness is a lot easier to show when someone is singled out as this emotion is based around how you feel when you have nobody to associate with.