Thinking Through Visual Communication

蒋文

Abstract：

This paper try to find out how visual communication worksby decoding an ad since advertisementsnow play a crucial role in Medias，especially in magazine. It will be detailedlydiscussed in several points，such as the contents，color，lighting，position，actors and where the ad is seen.

Keywords：VisualCommunication；Magazine；Advertisement；Decode； Function

“We can only understand what advertisement mean by finding out how they mean，and analyzing the way in which they work. What an advertisement says is merely what it claims to say； it is part of the deceptive mythology of advertising to believe that an advertisement is simply a transparent vehicle for a ‘message behind it.” （WILLIAMSON 1989，p.17）

This essay aims to decode a double page advertisement chosen from a British fashion magazinecalled “i-D”，which was founded by Terry Jones （an art director who worked for Vogue before） in 1980.“i-D”magazine focus on the fashion trends.

“In comparisons between six media – magazines，newspapers，newspaper supplements，TV，radio and websites – magazines lead in terms of providing interesting information and being tailored to users needs. Advertising in magazines is seen more positively than advertising in other media. Magazines，followed by websites，are the most action-oriented of the six media. ” （CONSTERDINE2005，p.7）

The advertisement will be discussed detailed from the following several points，for example，the contents，color，lighting，position，actors and where the ad is seen.

“Examining the efficacy of other forms of positioning，Starch found that ads in the front of a magazine tend to be read by more readers than ads in the back of the magazine.” （GALIN 2010）The position of this advertisement is in the title pages （the first and second pages） after the magazine cover. People always read from the beginning of a magazine，so the ad in the beginning of a magazine has more impacts on people. “Magazine advertisements placed next to a Table of Contents （TOC） has a strong impact on readership—on average，there was an 8% difference between readership of ads next to a TOC versus ads next to any form of editorial （editorial，or as it is called，edit，is defined as table of contents，relevant article （article related to the adjacent ad），cover story，or any article. This placement represents a 28% lift in readership when comparing TOC adjacency to being next to another ad.” So it does have unique impacts on customer minds.” （GALIN 2010）

The advertisement itself is trying to sell people a pair of female sunglass made by a famous fashion brand，Emporio Armani.

It seems to tell people there is a triangle love between this girl and those two boys.The boy on the left hand dresses in a tidy suit，he seems to be a very mature man. His eyes are staring at the girl mildly and dedicated. Also he is very initiative，trying to stand close to the woman in the middle though the woman apparently likes to approach the other man.

However，the other man on the right hand，or just call him boy，dresses in a leather coat，looks grim and feeling less，his eyes stares at somewhere casually with no focus instead of looking back to the woman just as the left side man.

The woman in the middleseems very much like the right side man，someone said people always like catering to those bad guys. She seems smilehappily for owning two men，but people cannot see her true feelingsbecause she has a pair of strange sunglass. There is something odd should not be ignored，but why does she wear a pair of sunglass when it is in the midnight？

First，it is said that “the eyes are the windows of our soul”，when people hide them，maybe they just want to conceal their actual feelings and emotions.

Second，as people all know，the function of sunglass is to avoid the sunshine，sunglass is usually used when the sun is shining heavily. The purpose of this advertisement lies in here，although people know the ad is about Armani，but they do not know what it actually sells since Armani has a large category of commodities. Once people notice the sunglass，they would observe the brand of this sunglass for the logo is obviously so as no one can ignore. So people would eventually realize that the sunglass be what the ad selling. The night and sunglass are just two opposite words，the actual purpose of the advertisementjust is to draw peoples attention to the strange sunglass.

By judging the clothes and temperament，the man on the left hand side and the woman looks like a couple of lover. However，observe from their actions and feelings，it reveals that the woman likes the right side boy more，but it cannot be said that she don not love the man on the left hand. Although she stands more close to the right side boy，she also acts very intimate with the left sided man.So it can be concluded that it maybe a triangle love between the three people.

The scene seems to happen in a street，and the car light behind the actors suggests they may like drag racing at night. Generally，young people like this activity because it is very stimulating and makes them feel excited. This personality of these young people are always more independent and traitorousthan their peers. And Armani is selling some unique products to these young generations.

Thebright light isshining on their faces from everywhere through the darkness. It can be imagined that their triangle love would finally exposure to the public，but they seems to be enjoy the stimulating process.The light from left is especially strong.“There is also some suggestion that light from the left might be preferred. Leftward lighting biases have been observed across various mediums such as paintings，portraits，photographs，and advertisements. As advertisements are used to persuade the public to purchase products，it was of interest to better understand whether leftward lighting would influence future intention to purchase.” （HUTCHISON 2011，p423-432）

In the top of this ad stands the name of the three actors，in the bottom，there exists the brand name and the theme of this ad which is called “Dreamers”. In the right bottom，there also printed the website of Armani，convenient for people to search if they are interested in the products and want to find out more.

The three actors in the advertisement are Michael Pitt，Eva Green，and Louis Garrel.

Michael Pit is a popular American actor and musician. Eva Green is a French actress and model. Louis Garrel is also an actor from France. They are young actors.

Researches about them showed that all of them had all played parts in anearly France film that was also called “Dreamers” in the year 2004.They all become famous after they act this film.

The story happens in 1968，just before Paris May Revolution.It tells the love between a couple of sister and brother as well as amale abroad student. The sister and brother love each other，and the abroad student loves the sister. It is an abnormal love that cannot be accepted by their parents and friends. When their parent found out their love，they left. They became very famous once the magazine published even before the film show.

This advertisement just creates a similar relationship between these people. However there are some different parts from the movie.

First is the complicated and confusing relationship between them. In the movie，two of them has the same parents，so the relationship is taboo love，and plus an abroad student，it is a taboo，abnormal and triangle love.But in this advertisement，the relationship between them can only be described as triangle love. It is also very strange that none of them has direct eye contact. So，the relationship may be like this： the suit dressed man loves the woman but the woman likes the right sided man，however，the right sided man does not care about anything.

Second is the background. In the film，under the circumstances ofParis May Revolution，the malformed love is just like a rebel to the society. They wanted to get rid of the chains surround them. Nevertheless，in this ad，the background is more pure. Maybe it is talking about three young people have a love affair stealthily on a cold night.

The director had made this ad more like a beautifuland old-fashioned film，and they all wear the latest clothes of Armani. The film-like ad confuses people whether it is a film poster or just a sunglass advertisement. Also they invite three new and fashion actors in this advertisementas Armanis target audiences are young noble generations. It would definitely draw the attention of young fashion people because of the style and emotions conveyed by the ad.

About the color

The main color of Emporio Armani （2004-2005）is black or colors similar to black. So this episodehappened at night. They are nearly surrounded by black. “Black-favorite color of priests and penitents，artists and ascetics，fashion designers and fascists-has always stood for powerfully opposed ideas： authority and humility，sin and holiness，rebellion and conformity，wealth and poverty，good and bad.”（ PASTOUREAU 2008.）

“In the beginning was black，Michel Pastoureau tells us. The archetypal color of darkness and death，black was associated in the early Christian period with hell and the devil but also with monastic virtue.” （PASTOUREAU 2008.）According to the previous researchers，black can represents positive words like fashion，simple but also negative words as crime，danger，seduce，death，bad，sin，etc. A saying goes that —— “The night is abed of crime.” The black night also imply the dangerous triangle love between the three people. Just as their dangerous relationships.

There is never a sunglass advertisement ever successful than this ad，many of which just have a model wearing the sunglass from every angle. However this ad uses a strong contract idea that shock audiences. People start to realize sunglass is no longer just a tool in protecting the sunshine but also a small accessory like rings and necklaces that can make people become more fashion and attractive. Sunglass has been given a new definition through this advertisement.

To conclude，a good advertisement can make people buy thing that they donot need，but a successful advertisementnot only let customers buy the products in the ad，but also pace you searching other products of this brand and loving it.

[References]

[1]WILLIAMSON，J. and BOYARS，M.（1983） Decoding Advertisements： Ideology and Meaning in Advertisements. London.

[2]CONSTERDINE，G.（2005） How magazine advertising works，5th ed. PPA Marketing

[3]GALIN，M.（2010） The Impact of Print Magazine Ad Placement on Readership. Cover to cover. [online] Available from：http：//printinthemix.com/Fastfacts/Show/380 [Accessed 16 April 2013]

[4]HUTCHISON，J. THOMAS，A.A. ELIAS，L. （2011） Leftward lighting in advertisement increases advertisement ratings and purchase intention. Laterality： Asymmetries of Body，Brain and Cognition. [online] 16（4），423-432. Available from： http：//www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13576501003702663#.UZroUCthvgM

[5]PASTOUREAU，M.（2008） Black： The history of a Color，[online] Available from： http：//press.princeton.edu/titles/8717.html

（作者單位：苏州高博软件技术职业学院，江苏 苏州 215163）