The Berlo Model:
This article states that the process of communication is separated into 4 parts:
the source
the message
the channel
and the receiver
Each part has to consist of 5 other parts to make it successful. For example, the source, which is the thing trying to communicate, will be successful if s/he has good communication skills, knowledge of what they are communicating, a good understanding of their social system and culture (who they are communicating to, why they are choosing this audience and how they communicate this message), and his/her attitude of the subject matter. The biggest thing that will stick in my mind about the Source section is that finding the "right word" in my mind may not be the "right word" in someone else's mind.
The message is determined by the elements and structure of the information, which is included in the code, the content, and the treatment of the two. What I understood of the code and content was that the content is everything in the message that we want the viewer to comprehend and the code is the way the source successfully communicates the message, whether it's speaking, writing, preforming, etc. The treatment is how the code and content are joined and edited to include what the source thinks the receiver needs to comprehend. For example, if a person has time to read 4 sentences, but there's an article of 32 sentences, the source has to find a way to communicate the message of the article in only 4 sentences.
The channel is where the message is located to have the most impact while keeping the given limitations (availability, cost, preferences, which has the most impact on the receiver, etc.) So, the 5 senses should be considered with the channel; should the receiver see, hear, taste, touch, or smell something to get the message?
The last part of sending a message is the receiver, and his/her understanding of the given message. The receiver has to deal with the same things as the source. Does the receiver have the same knowledge of the content that the source does? Does he/she have the same culture and attitude as the source? If not did the source successfully communicate the message to deal with the receiver's attitude and culture? And so on.
What Does This Symbol Mean?"
Symbols are things thrown together to stand in for something else. They can be obvious like a beautiful rose standing in for beauty, or they can be less obvious, and we might have to learn the symbol before we can recognize it as what it stands for, like a goat symbolizing lust. In semiotics there is an arbitrary relationship between the signifier and the signified. The signified is kind of randomly connected to the signifier. For example, a black flag is not dangerous, but it symbolizes danger.
Message of Mona Lisa:
Messages can be communicated via 3 separate forms of medium:
presentational-> voices or body language
representational-> photos, books, paintings, writings, etc.
mechanical-> televisions, the internet, radios, phones, films, etc.
The message of the Mona Lisa was translated presentationally, by her facial expression, representationally, because it is painted, AND mechanically, because we can see in on the internet or on television. Mona Lisa's smile is a message in itself. The article explains that if everything in the painting stayed the same, but the smile was changed to a frown, then the message would be completely different. Her eyes show no emotion at all, so in this case, her "mouth is the window to her soul."
How Well Do You Understand Him?
This article explains that how the receiver interprets a message. When a source writes a sentence without determining a logical context, the receiver will interpret the message his/her own way, and it may not be understood the way that the source intended.
A Communication Primer:
This video explained Claude Shannon's diagram of communication, which separates communication into 7 elements.
Information Source
Message
Transmitter
Channel
Receiver
Message
Destination
The information source develops a message and sends it through the transmitter. The transmitter changes the message into a signal, which sends the message through a channel to the receiver, where it is decoded back into the message, and it arrives at its destination.
The transmitter would be considered communication skills, knowledge of the subject, talent, technique, etc. And the channel would be how the message is displayed, just like Berlo's model. In the video, Ray and Charles Eams explained how a message can be interrupted or varied from its original state. Noise is a disruption of the message. It could be noise when the receiver is trying to listen to the message, it could be bad lighting, striking an unintended emotion, unwanted motion, or it could be how the message is shown. For example, the "No" presentation last year showed us how 2 letters, one word, can be shown MANY different ways to cause different reactions.
There are tons of ways to send a message. If one way is not understood, there will be another, more successful way.
The video explained how symbols are an abstraction of an idea, and that the communication of a symbol is both anonymous and personal. Our job as designers is to select different parts together in unity to make a whole. In other words, we have to discover the best way to communicate a message, by thinking of every possible detail that we can include. Every dot or line will effect the piece and its message. Although the tools we use have the ability to create a message, we designers are responsible to make the best decisions to successfully send a message that is successfully received.
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